Today's media coverage about Fines Victoria's longstanding fine collection issues confirms what Port Phillip Council has said for months.
Our Council is currently owed $21.8 million in unrecovered debt from outstanding fines, which Fines Victoria is responsible for collecting, and this balance continues to increase each month.
This huge sum includes an expected cash loss for this coming financial year of approximately $1 million.
Our expectation is that we should be reimbursed for any losses caused to Council by the systems failure, which cannot be recouped.
Fines Victoria has started holding regular meetings with Council officers to provide updates and is putting additional resources into resolving its systems problem.
Fines Victoria has also committed to pursuing old outstanding debts and is planning to increase the presence of its sheriffs in Port Phillip.
While welcoming these actions, we remain extremely frustrated with the delay as, if this money had been available to us, we would have spread it across a range of planned services and projects to improve outcomes for our community.
