Oregon Governor, lawmakers seek clean-up of the Revenue department

Prodding the Oregon Department of Revenue will take effort, but Gov. Kate Brown and the Legislature are attacking the problem on a number of fronts: with a bill to centralize and prioritize collections, completion of an all-new computer system that can automate debt collection, hiring an adequate number of debt collectors to do the job — and making the best use of state powers and private collection agency wiles to reel the unpaid money in.

Senate Bill 89 would require all state agencies to send their debt — after due process notifications and opportunity for the debtor to contest the debt — to the Department of Revenue.

“Basically all we’re doing is taking them out of being the middleman — and having to assign the accounts back and forth,” said Gerold Floyd, a Department of Administrative Services manager who oversees statewide debt collection.

The goal is to speed up the collections process. The longer it takes to get the account out to private collection firms, the less collectible it is, he said.

Read more: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2017/05/21/oregon-governor-lawmakers-seek-clean-up-revenue-department/333367001/