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Collection agencies may soon call on Chicago’s debtors
Unpaid bills adding up as city faces $300 million shortfall
By Dan Mihalopoulos~Chicago Tribune
The same bill collectors who pester debtors on behalf of credit-card companies are being recruited by Chicago City Hall to go after anybody who owes money to the cash-strapped city.
Just months after pushing through highly unpopular parking meter rate hikes as part of a lease — and in the midst of a recession — Mayor Richard Daley’s administration is looking for private collection agencies to track down people with unpaid parking tickets, delinquent water bills and other debts.
Last year alone, past-due fines and taxes amounted to tens of millions of dollars, including almost $95 million in unpaid water bills alone. The debts are piling up as Daley faces a budget shortfall his aides peg at about $300 million.
“Whether it’s municipal governments like the city of Chicago, or state or federal agencies, they are having trouble making ends meet,” said Thomas Penaluna, president of CBE Group, a Waterloo, Iowa-based collection agency among 13 companies expressing interest in doing business with the city. “They need to find any way possible to increase revenues. Because people are having a difficult time, they have not been able to pay on time.”
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