JP has informed me that they spend way too much time refunding over payments sent in for fines on citations issued by our troopers. It seems that even though there is a courtesy letter given each time a citation is written with the $ owed should the defendant elect to mail the fine to the JP, they routinely mail the wrong amount......from $.50 to $10.00 too much. The question is, can a notation be placed in the courtesy letter that advises overpayments cannot and will not be refunded? Or, alternatively, Overpayments of less than $15.00 (ex.) will not be refunded. Of course, we will put it in bold type etc. What are other counties doing when this happens?
People may very well be doing that intentionally. There's a chain letter that's been going around the internet for years now describing how paying just a little over your ticketed amount will somehow tie up the computer system so your citation never shows up on the official records.
Could you have a policy of returning overpayments and processing them as having not been satisfied? That is what most tax assessors do with overpayments of property taxes. The policy could also be communicated in the notices on the citation.
Posts: 188 | Location: Lubbock, Texas USA | Registered: October 04, 2002