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City contractor reports $3.1 million collected from delinquent municipal-court cases; 57% recovery rate
Summary
Nicole Johnson, Tyler’s municipal court administrator, and Patrick Woods of the city’s collections contractor reported to the council on Jan. 8 that about $5.5 million in delinquent municipal-court charges has been referred to the contractor since 2019, with $3.1 million liquidated and about $2.3 million remaining outstanding.
Good morning, Mayor Warren and members of the Tyler City Council: municipal court staff and their outside collections contractor presented results on a five-year delinquent-court collections program on Jan. 8.
Nicole Johnson, Tyler’s municipal court administrator, introduced the report and said the city has worked with the contracted firm since 2019. Patrick Woods, the collections project lead who appeared for the firm named in the staff presentation, told the council the firm has received more than 70,000 delinquent cases over the past four years and is actively working about 37,000 of those accounts.
The presentation gave dollar figures: the firm said $5,500,000 was turned over to it since 2019, $3,100,000 has been “liquidated” from the delinquent roll through cash and noncash resolutions, and about $2,300,000 remains outstanding. Woods said the program’s liquidation rate is about 57 percent, well above an industry benchmark the presentation identified as roughly 30–35 percent.
Why it matters: municipal collection efforts affect city revenues and defendants’ outcomes. The contractor described a mix of outcomes that reduce or satisfy debt, including payments, community service credit and jail credit. Johnson and Woods said judges and court prosecutors set case-level decisions such as payment plans or jail time; the presentation emphasized that jail is a last resort and that community-service options or extended payment plans are commonly used.
Woods described outreach methods used to locate and contact debtors: 14,000 phone calls, about 68,000 mailed notices, skip-tracing software and, beginning in 2025, text-message outreach. He credited Tyler Police Department officers for gathering accurate contact information at traffic stops, which the firm said reduces the need for additional tracing.
On fees: the contractor said it is paid by a contingency add-on that the presentation described as a 30 percent fee applied per statute (presentation did not cite the specific statutory citation). Woods explained the fee is added to the defendant’s balance (he said a $100 debt becomes $130 with the fee) and that the firm cannot vary that percentage outside the statutory limit.
Other practices mentioned included an annual spring case-resolution campaign run in cooperation with the Texas Marshals Association; a practice of sending color-coded letters to signal urgency; and use of noncash resolutions such as community service or credit for time served.
The council did not take a formal vote on a contract change or extension during the presentation. Council members asked procedural questions about how jail credit and community service are applied; Johnson and Woods said judges decide those case-level remedies and that the court seeks alternatives to incarceration when possible.
The presentation closed with the firm offering to continue the contract and to answer any follow-up questions; the council did not announce a vote on an extension at the meeting.
