Babylon Village mulls scofflaw system

The Village of Babylon held a special meeting Tuesday on the possibility of joining several other Long Island villages in outsourcing the collection of delinquent parking fees.

Village Mayor Ralph Scordino said that while he believes the the village doesn’t have a scofflaw problem, he is looking to make the summons process easier.

“What we'd like to do is keep on top of things,” he said.

Scordino said he got the idea from the Village of Patchogue, which is using Hempstead-based Fundamental Business Services. FBS representative Dennis Farrell attended the special meeting Tuesday to explain the company’s services, which include online ticket tracking for the village and online payment options for violators.

FBS’ system automatically adds penalties every 30 days that a ticket is delinquent. After 120 days, the company acts as a third-party collection agency.

If Babylon uses the service, FBS would supply the village with a new ticket format -- one Farrell says has proven to be clearer for defendants in the villages of Freeport and Valley Stream.

Follow T.C. on Twitter
More Babylon news

"It's clear, it's understandable and it helps the defendant to know what to do."

Farrell said his company, which would be paid with 30 percent of the delinquent fees collected, would also help the village process tickets from as far back as seven years.

“So essentially it’s costing the village nothing,” said Village Trustee Tony DeVito, but he noted that the meeting Tuesday was simply exploratory.

“We really don't know right now if there is going to be a change,” Devito said.

Even if the village doesn’t use a third-party service for ticket processing, Scordino said he will still seek changes to make tickets more understandable.