Maine Municipal Tax Collectors' & Treasurers' Association
Home	Training	Executive Board		Publications	Links	Forms

Posted by Barbara O'Leary, Northport, February 20, 2009:The Town of Northport assess a fee for checks returned for insufficient funds.  This usually is related to payment for a motor vehicle registration.  My question is do towns assess a fee and how do you collect the fee assessed?  The resident will come in and pay the motor vehicle fee but not always the town fee.  How can this be enforced?  The vehicle registration they already have so what is the leverage of the Town to collect the fee? 

Responses: When we have an NSF ck for vech reg we call the person, then send them a letter giving them 5 business days to pay in full, excise and state fees to us.  We tell them if they don't we're writing it off and sending to the state to collect.   We fax the reg to Pam @ BMV in Augusta, she then gives them so many days to pay her, if not the registration is supspended. You should contact Pam Webber @ 624-9150 to discuss this process with the state. The only problem we ever run into here is if someone just pays excise here.......if they only pay excise the State will not collect on it.  We call the customer, and if that doesn't work we ask a police officer to call or visit the person to pay the ck.  If all else fails, we write if off, but put a block on future registrations or excise or any payment here unless its cash. Hope this helps. (Sue Borelli, South Portland)

The City of Bangor uses pretty much the same process that Sue from South Portland mentioned.  We give the customer 10 days to pay and then if the check was for both excise tax and State fees, we turn the issue over to the State.  They will attempt to collect and then suspend the registration. 

If the check is for just excise tax we still send the 10 day letter demanding payment.  If the customer refuses to pay, we flag their registration in our electronic system (TRIO) that they have an outstanding check.  When they attempt to reregister the next year or transfer credit we refuse process the transaction until the previous returned check and our fee ($20.00) is paid in cash.

We do the same registration flag if the customer refuses to pay the returned check fee from an item sent to the State.  The State imposes their own returned check fee so a lot of customers think they should not have to pay ours as well.  We disagree and require payment before processing any more transactions.

Our reasoning is that the State Law requires that excise be paid as a prerequisite to the completion of a registration.  A returned check means that the excise tax was not paid and until it is the registration is not valid, regardless of the State's position.  I have always had an issue with the fact that the State does not suspend and assist in the collection of excise tax only checks.  As a member of the Maine Tax Collectors' and Treasurers' Association Executive Board and chair of the Legislative Committee it is something I will try to get changed, although I am not holding my breath.

On occasion some of these customers move out of Bangor and in those cases we will most likely never get our money.  We do use a collection agency for some returned checks but not normally for motor vehicle transactions.  You also have the option of turning the information over to your Police Department.  Knowingly passing a bad check is a crime so there is the possibility of prosecution.  In my experience this is usually not a high priority unless the individual is passing bad checks throughout the community. 

I would be interested in any other responses you received. (David Little, Bangor)

The Town of Wells uses the following process:

• Send out a notice to the customer and give them 10 days to respond or pay.
• If no reply, we turn the data over to the Police Department who then calls the customer
• If still no reply, the PD summons the customer to court
  • This usually gets the customer to pay.

We have a very involved and willing to help PD!

We do flag them for any future registrations if they have not paid. And, we do charge a $20.00 fee. This amount has not changed since 1991. I think I have an agenda item for our Selectmen! (Leo Ouellette, Wells)