The United States, State of Oregon’s delinquent and liquidated debt, currently about $3.4 billion, growing at a rate of $300-400 million per annum, is made up largely of fees, fines, restitution orders and unpaid taxes. This... [ view full abstract ]
The United States, State of Oregon’s delinquent and liquidated debt, currently about $3.4 billion, growing at a rate of $300-400 million per annum, is made up largely of fees, fines, restitution orders and unpaid taxes. This case study reports Oregon’s efforts to frame, manage and resolve the debt collection issue.
It will also tell the story of a unique community-academic-practitioner collaboration, its approach, its successes and failures. Consequently, it is also the story of a group of retired public officials, both elected and appointed, and their crusade to make Oregon’s government work better, smarter, and, maybe, cheaper. The organization, an affiliate of Willamette University’s Atkinson Graduate School of Management, is the Institute for Modern Government (IMG). Entirely voluntary, it is relentlessly nonpartisan.
Collecting debts owed to Oregon’s government is a wicked problem, in large part because the task is the responsibility of multiple agencies and jurisdictions, each with its own mission, a distinct debtor profile, and idiosyncratic set of values, interests and perceptions. Benchmarking the state’s management of its accounts receivable against the practices, activities, programs, and performance of other states indicates that increasing collections requires the cooperation of disparate agencies and jurisdictions, that Oregon’s collection agencies lack the statutory authority to do things found to be effective elsewhere, and that it is unclear, in many cases, who is ultimately responsible for collections.
Fixing this particular wicked problem, including passing major legislation has gone on for several years, still having a way to go. However, it wouldn’t have gotten this far if IMG hadn’t raised the issue, brought the right stakeholders to the table to work on it, and proposed solutions for policymakers to consider. If nothing else, this story shows what retired public executives can do, in collaboration with government officials and academics, to make government better.
