Municipal fines and fees incurred through the courts, code violations, unpaid bills for city services or other administrative actions can leave many residents struggling to pay for basic needs such as food, housing and medication. Systems to assess and collect debt that do not consider an individual’s ability to pay can undermine cities’ efforts to support residents’ financial stability. Cities have an opportunity to reevaluate and mitigate the negative impacts of fines and fees on residents and implement equitable collections strategies that both improve financial stability and increase the likelihood of recouping lost revenue.
Since 2019, NLC’s Cities Addressing Fines and Fees Equitably Initiative (CAFFE) has helped many municipalities address these challenges. Participating cities implemented programs to help residents burdened with debt from fines and fees to reduce their debt and improve their financial well-being. The program model was adapted from NLC’s LIFT-UP model, in which residents’ utility debt was restructured with participation in financial counseling or coaching. Several key learnings emerged through the two program cohorts:
1. Creative Partnerships Lead to Successful Results
Creative partnerships — both with internal city departments and external organizations — were key to the cities’ successes. To lessen the significant burden of pet reclamation fines and fees on residents, the City of Dallas brought together a unique and multidisciplinary team comprising the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Office of Community Care and Empowerment, Dallas Animal Services and the nonprofit Financial Empowerment Center. The project reduced an average of $782 in pet reclamation fines and fees debt for residents who were unable to pay while connecting them to financial counseling and support.
2. Community Engagement Builds Trust and Increases Participation
Cohort cities found that many residents, particularly Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) residents and those from underserved communities, have negative associations with local government, making it challenging to provide financial support services to targeted groups most impacted by debt. To address this challenge, Las Vegas’ Department of Neighborhood Services worked with the Department of Code Enforcement to build trust and increase participation by talking to residents in their neighborhoods and providing information about how to avoid or pay down code enforcement fines and fees.
3. City Leadership is Necessary for Sustainability and Impact
Support from city leadership was crucial in all cities to ensure that efforts to decrease the burden of fines and fees were established and sustained. In Maywood, Illinois, Mayor Nathaniel Booker’s commitment to this work led to a more streamlined process for residents to pay their property tax in increments and avoid foreclosure. In Birmingham, Alabama, Municipal Court Presiding Judge Andra Sparks instituted an important protocol change that allowed municipal judges to remit or reduce fines related to driving with a suspended or revoked driver’s license for residents if they participated in a certain number of financial empowerment classes. As a result, residents will be less at risk of losing jobs because of the loss of their driver’s license and more likely to reduce their debt.
4. Policy Change Leads to Longer Term Reduction in Residents’ Debt
In Montgomery, Alabama, Mayor Steven Reed passed an executive order that remits unpaid fines and fees for adjudicated traffic cases and cannabis offenses more than 10 years old. According to Mayor Reed, “This order reflects a broader change in how we approach justice in Montgomery … These initiatives will ensure that financial burden doesn’t dictate who succeeds and who struggles in our city. Our priority is safe streets and a more vibrant community for everyone.”
5. Data Assessment is Critical to Designing Programs and Communicating Impacts
All cities in the cohort conducted initial assessments to identify the impact of fines and fees on residents. Dallas, Las Vegas and Maywood went deeper by working with NLC to develop burden models to predict the impact different fines and fees reforms would have on specific groups of residents. Using census data on demographics, education, occupation, homeownership and health insurance coverage, the model simulates the impact of incurring or reducing fines and fees, helping these cities to make data-informed policy changes.
Conclusion
The cities in the CAFFE Initiative developed strategies with the potential for lasting impacts on residents struggling with debt. Across the eight cities in the second cohort, participants reduced their fines and fees debt by an average of $981, allowing them to focus on other household needs like food and health care costs. City governments can be champions of strengthening financial security for families through reimagined debt collection practices, equitable ability-to-pay processes and increased access to financial empowerment services.
About the Authors
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