The Hamilton County Criminal Court Clerk’s Office announced Monday that the numbers are in for 2025 collections and they look very good.

“We had another banner year in 2025 collections,” Criminal Court Clerk Vince Dean said.  In 2025, receipts totaled close to $2 Million.  That total includes the amount collected by the collection agency retained by the office, lump sum settlements, jail garnishments and the overwhelming receipts through walk in customers.”

Dean said these collections amounted to more than 10 times the amount of taxpayer money budgeted for this effort. 

“It’s simple logic that the more we collect, the less that must come from the taxpayers.” Dean said.  

A few years after taking office, Dean, East Ridge’s favorite son who has served the city as Mayor and in the General Assembly, realized the need for a centrally located payment center that could collect for both the Sessions Criminal Division and the State Criminal Courts. 

“We found that most of our customers did not know the difference between Sessions Court level cases and Criminal Court cases,” he said. “Many owed fines and fees in both courts and consequently had to visit both offices to make their payments.

“Since then, we created the payment center and direct all payments to that office.  It’s truly a one stop shop for payments,” Dean added.

Everything you wanted to know about methods of collections but were afraid to ask …

Collections are done in a variety of ways.  First there is the “walk-in” payments.  This can be done right after a court appearance with a final judgment.   Whether it is a traffic citation, or a felony case decided by a jury, those payments are receipted in the payment center.  Typically this type of collection is the bulk of the receipts for most given months. In January of this year, over $80.000 of the more than $118,000 collected were collected by walk-ins alone.

This would also include those who are on a payment plan.  Our payment center is very accommodating when assisting customers maintaining their driver’s license by setting up a payment plan.  We find that if a customer can maintain their driving privileges they are better suited and able to pay their court ordered fines and fees.

Next we have our garnishments.  We use the tools allowed in state law to garnish the debt that a Judge has ordered.  The bulk of our garnishments are currently levied against those in custody.  It is our belief that if a person has extra money while they are incarcerated, the county should collect what the Judge has ordered.  It is never our goal to leave the inmate without any funds, as we do leave a predetermined amount.  If the family member chooses to do so, we will gladly stop future garnishments in exchange for a payment plan that is adhered to in a consistent manner.  Again, we are eager to work with our customers and agree upon a payment plan that they can live with.

Lump Sum payments are settlements that are approved by the Judge and the Criminal Court Clerk.  When Dean was in the Tennessee General Assembly, he championed a change in the law that allowed defendants to pay half of an outstanding balance if the case was more than five-years old.  The entire 50 percent of the balance, including any collection fees must paid at one time.  These 50 percent settlements cannot be paid in payment plans.  This has been a tool proven to be beneficial in getting some of the old cases off the books.  Our office typically collects more than $10,000 per month in these type of collections. 

Finally, our office has contracted with a collection agency to go after our old debt.  According to state law, for court fees and fines, an uncollected balance on a case is considered delinquent after six months if the debt is not paid in full. 

However, our office waits for a full year to lapse before turning these debts over to our collection agency.  Since contracting with our new agency, we have been successful in collecting on some cases from as long ago as 40 years. In Tennessee there is no “statute of limitations” on court ordered fees and fines.

Collecting fees and fines is only one of the many duties of the Criminal Court Clerk’s office.  Collecting those fees and fines is vital to the fiscal health of the Clerk’s office.  Last year’s collections of nearly $2 million, exceeded the just under $200,000 budgeted for the Payment Center and the Deputy Clerks assigned there.  The balance was then used to offset the remaining balance of the two other budgeted offices under the umbrella of the Criminal Court Clerk. 

The Payment Center currently has six Deputy Clerks assigned in an office space that was occupied by no more than three people before the Criminal Court Clerk assumed possession of the office.  That office is already busting at the seams most days. 

“We have spoken with members of the Mayor’s staff about enlarging the space.”  Dean said.  “We would like to combine the Payment Center with our Expungement Center,”  he added. 

All expungements require that no fees or fines are still owed.  This generally requires a trip to the Payment Center.  Once settled, the customer then must go to another office to apply for an expungement. 

“We feel as though we can streamline this process by merging the two divisions,” said Julie Ladd, Director of the Payment Center. 

There are currently three Deputy Clerks assigned to the Expungement Center.  Under the current floor plan, there is no way to house them with the Payment Center.

Chief of Staff Jason Clerk said the Criminal Court Clerk’s office hopes to get the expansion underway soon.

“At the end of the day we are constantly looking for better ways to serve those that we serve,” concluded Dean.