Adams County’s efforts to get delinquent justice court fines collected seem to be paying off.

After literally years of griping about the problem of delinquent fines and squabbling over details on how to address the matter, the decision to bring in an outside collection agency appears to be working well.

County officials reported recently that in the last six months the collection agency has brought in approximately $40,000 to $50,000 in back fines.

That’s great news because that money belongs to the citizens of the county.

In some ways the collection agency should not be necessary as the leadership in justice court has the ultimate means to pressure someone into appearing and paying.

Not paying fines or answering collection letters could easily be grounds for the justice court clerk to file a contempt of court grievance and prompt judges to issue a bench warrant for the person in question.

If phone calls from a collection agency have yielded good results, we can only imagine how well the results could be if the full letter of the law were levied.

We applaud the success to date and encourage county and justice court leaders to continue pressing on to collect all that is due.