The Fort Worth Library is writing off $11,524,662 in unpaid fines older than three years partly because of data lost in computer upgrades, officials say.
The city will stop trying to collect patrons' debts dating back to the early 1990s and will focus on $2.8 million in patron debts from the past three years, according to a memo given to city council members.
The library collects fines for books that are returned late and charges fees for items that are never returned.
"Nearly all of the records prior to 2010 lack sufficient information for any collection efforts," the memo said.
A collection company hired by the city considers it unlikely that unpaid accounts will be collected after three years, according to the document.
Even if the city wanted to collect on the older debts, key information was lost in two computer software upgrades, the memo said.
"This means that we have records assigned to patron accounts that cannot be linked to a book or other materials and even if the item is returned, the fee cannot be cleared," it said.
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Jean McMillan loves reading and her local library in Fort Worth.
“I have been in love with libraries since I was two years old,” she said. “They have been a companion for me. They have been a source of information.”
But even this proud book worm has slipped up and forgotten to bring books back to the East Regional Library on time.
“You know old people are forgetful unfortunately,” she said with a laugh. “Sometimes we get a little messed up with things but generally it’s OK. It’s never been more than $5.”
Over the past 30 years, library users in Fort Worth have racked up fines for late returns or not bringing books back at all, but unlike McMillan have not paid them.
Fees that are now wiped clean.
“There’s really no wat to collect it,” said new City of Fort Worth Library Director Manya Shorr. “We just can’t find most of our people anymore. Many people have moved around a lot in the last 30 years. We’ve also migrated to two different computer systems and lost a lot of our data.”
In order to move forward, Shorr will essentially write-off patrons’ debts that are older than three years.
“This is not real money. This is just truly bad data,” she said about the incomplete information on past debts. “This isn’t funds that we would have ever collected at this point.”
Shorr adds, “It really just needs to go away so we can put accurate amounts onto the city’s ledger and really start working on good fiscal stewardship.”
