Los Angeles to Appoint Debt Collection Czar

Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved the creation of a position that will serve as inspector general for collections, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Officials told the paper that the inspector general will serve as a “debt collection sheriff” for the city’s ballooning unpaid debt pool.

LA has been saddled with chronically unpaid debt, now estimated at $541 million. Debt collection is handled in the city on an agency by agency basis, with some government agencies performing better than others. For example, the Fire Department is owed nearly $250 million in unpaid ambulance fees while the Department of Transportation has some $213 million in unpaid parking tickets owed.

The Council noted that the position will probably be filled with an existing city official.

Among other duties, the inspector general for collections will be tasked with determining which debts will be subjected to collection efforts and which will be deemed uncollectible and charged off. While the city is not known for large contracts with third party debt collection agencies, it does have a program in place to approve debt buying companies to bid on the purchase of its old receivables.