Have an Outstanding Ticket in Brick? Time to Pay Up, Township Says

People with outstanding traffic ticket debt and others fines from the Brick municipal court will soon face the wrath of a collections agency.

Those who do not pay their fines or show up to court are often slapped with judicial bench warrants or driver's license suspensions, but with about $650,000 in outstanding fines waiting to be collected, the township will utilize the services of a collections agency to make ticket scofflaws pay the piper.

"There were fines that were stale and not being collected, so we took the opportunity now that this is allowed under the law," said Mayor John Ducey.

The collection of stale fines was part of Ducey's 100 Day Plan for Brick that he implemented after being sworn in as mayor in January.

On Tuesday, the township council awarded a contract to Pioneer Credit Recovery, of Arcade, N.Y., to provide the collections service.

Pioneer will charge a fee of 22 percent of the outstanding fines for for its services, which will be billed to the person whose fines are outstanding. The township will not be charged.

Ducey said Pioneer was hired because in other New Jersey municipalities, the company has "far exceeded contractual minimums."

The company was hired for an initial one-year contract, which can be renewed for two more years.