Outdated Forms Leave Speeders With Unpaid Fines

[dateline] -- It's a common situation: you get a speeding ticket and pay it immediately.

Here's the twist, a few months later, you get a letter in the mail saying the ticket isn't paid in full.

Central Ohio residents are finding the described situation is a reality.

When Gov. Ted Strickland signed House Bill 562 into law in July, he tacked on another $10 to every moving violation ticket written in the state.

When it went into effect in September, Franklin County Clerk Lori Tyack had little time to react.

"We had a series of things here in the clerk's office that we needed to adjust our computer system, the account that we have set up to send in to the state of Ohio that is collected," Tyack said.

They also needed to inform area law enforcement and the general public, but they did not have time to do one thing: correct traffic tickets that were printed late in 2007.

As a result, more than 1,000 traffic violators in Franklin County failed to send in a complete payment, forcing the clerk's office to write letters to retrieve it.

"They accused us of pocketing the money, of changing the costs of fines at the last minute," Tyack said.

Now, signs are posted at the clerk windows at the court house and pink slips are passed out with the envelopes and traffic tickets, noting to add $10 to the total costs.

Tyack said she hopes to order the new materials including the new fine early next year.

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