MASSAC COUNTY, Ill.--Would you pay a ten-year-old traffic ticket you got in a town hundreds of miles away?
Apparently a lot of people don't. One cash-strapped county is cracking down on those who've dodged the fines for years. Massac County, Illinois needs all the money they can get their hands on right now.
The county chair told Local 6 they barely have enough to pay employees.
They recently borrowed 100-thousand dollars from a bank, just to get by.
The state owes the county roughly 200-thousand dollars in tax revenue.
But much needed relief, to the tune of 55-thousand dollars came from a collection agency charged with finding people who probably thought they'd gotten away with not paying traffic tickets.
Massac County State's Attorney Patrick Windhorst told Local 6 the agency adds 30 percent to the outstanding balance  that could be considered a late fee.  The county recovers the full amount owed and doesn't have to pay for the collection services.

"The number of people that come into the county for the casino is very large," Windhorst said.

And so is the number of out of towners, who were ticketed, and willing to gamble Massac County would never track them down. State's Attorney Patrick Windhorst said now the odds are in the county's favor.

"This nationwide company is able to find the people and get them to pay," Windhorst said.

Windhorst said much of the money goes back to the agency that wrote the ticket, like the sheriff's department. He said that saves money for taxpayers and sends a strong message to those who thought they got away.

Tourists we talked to said that's the wrong message.

But Windhorst said people are paying up, and for a county in the red, the money couldn't come at a better time.

"It's a legitimate debt owed to the county that needs to be collected," Windhorst said.

Massac County's contract with the collection agency expires on July 2014.  The county chair and state's attorney both feel like the agency will be able to collect even more money between now and then.
Windhorst said the collection agency is also helping to get restitution in other court cases.