Oak Forest to garnish state tax refunds of scofflaws

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Updated: February 15, 2012 4:56PM

Scofflaws who have outstanding debts to pay Oak Forest soon could see state income tax refunds garnished.

The city council Tuesday approved an agreement with the Illinois Office of the Comptroller allowing the state agency to collect money owed to Oak Forest.

That would include outstanding parking tickets, fines, fees and other debts on the city’s unpaid list.

The intergovernmental agreement, which is part of the state’s “Local Debt Recovery Program,” allows the state comptroller to deduct the outstanding money owed along with a processing fee from state tax refunds, vendor, retirement or payroll checks before issuing them. The withheld fines would then be deposited into a fund, giving suspected nonpayers 60 days to protest the garnishment. After 60 days, the money would then be transferred to Oak Forest’s coffers.

Oak Forest is required to have notified the offenders before sending their debt along to the comptroller’s office, which tacks on a $15 processing fee for all unpaid balances exceeding $30.