Pima County is poised to write off nearly $107,000 in delinquent accounts for the quarter that ended in March, with more than half of that coming from the library system.
The library system wants to clear the books of about $63,200 in uncollectible debt - mostly from folks who have late fees that are at least three years old.
On the list of the nearly 4,800 people who haven't paid up, the uncollected debt ranges from 40 cents to a high of just short of $180.
About 160 people have fines that are less than a buck, while about a dozen people owe more than $100.
To keep that in perspective, there are more than 500,000 active library cards.
Nancy Ledeboer, the director of the library system, said the $63,200 is typical of most quarterly write-offs.
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Overall, she said, the library has delinquent accounts topping $3.4 million - including $2 owed by none other than herself, she admitted, highlighting the philosophy that anyone can make a mistake and shouldn't be ashamed to come pay up. Her fine isn't among those being forgiven.
"We want to trust our customers, and we want them to trust us. We don't want people thinking they're being judged because they've returned books late," Ledeboer said.
Instead, she said, she hopes patrons look at late fees differently. "I hope they can think of it as 'extended use' fees and feel good about the fact those fees are helping to buy books for the libraries."
While the bulk of library funding comes from taxes, Ledeboer said late fees generate about $600,000 for the system every year.
Fines rack up at a dime or a quarter a day, depending on whether the material is in the adults or childrens collections, topping out at $7.50 for adults, and $3 for children. That can still add up, though, depending on how many books are overdue. And the $3.4 million includes the value of many unreturned books borrowers are charged for.
Over time the library has tried a lot of things to get people to pay up. Email reminders. Bills for the price of the books. Refusing to let anyone who owes $5 or more check out more books.
One thing that might help, Ledeboer said, is she's been working for years to allow patrons to pay fines with a debit or credit card. Libraries across the country that take plastic find the convenience triggers a more timely payment of late fees and makes it easier to collect donations.
But the wheels of government turn slowly, especially when it comes to drafting policies and getting approval. Most recently, she said, the implementation was delayed over security concerns about how to build an adequate firewall.
"We want to trust our customers, and we want them to trust us. We don't want people thinking they're being judged because they've returned books late."
Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at rbodfield@azstarnet.com or 573-4243.
