Efforts to collect child support work Delinquent payments over $100 million

AUGUSTA – The state government collected more than $100 million in delinquent child support payments during the fiscal year that ended July 1, marking the second consecutive year in which collections have surpassed that figure.

The state Human Services Department said Wednesday that payments for fiscal 2002 stood just shy of $104 million, but the total could rise by about $1 million after the remaining payments are processed.

Maine has taken several steps to make sure parents who owe child support pay up.

During fiscal 2002, Maine employers reported 290,000 newly hired employees to the state, enabling it to withhold $65 million debts from the paychecks of those who owed support.

Maine also enacted the nation’s first law eight years ago to revoke driving, hunting and other state-issued licenses of parents who make no effort to meet their child support obligations.

The state revoked 3,115 licenses, most of them drivers’ licenses, during the past fiscal year. Sixty-one percent of the licenses were reinstated after payment schedules were established.

DHS Commissioner Kevin Concannon’s claim that Maine is a national leader in child-support collections is bolstered by a study by the American Public Human Services Association.

The group ranked Maine No. 1 nationally for assisting parents in the collection of child support through court or administrative orders. Nearly 90 percent of all child support arrangements in Maine are accompanied by such orders to ensure their enforcement.

The support payments are collected by DHS on behalf of 64,294 families with 95,064 children.

Of the $105 million total in back payments expected for 2002, about $80 million will go directly to the custodial families, Concannon said.

Roughly two-thirds of the remaining $25 million is to be returned to the federal government for welfare and other expenses it paid due to parents’ failure to pay support.

Because of its success in collecting support payments, the Division of Support Enforcement and Recovery is one area of state government that is adding rather than cutting staff, Concannon said.

Other programs are facing cuts as a result of a state revenue shortfall estimated at $180 million.