BROOKHAVEN — Lincoln County Board of Supervisors voted in April to hire a contractor to collect unpaid fines in Lincoln County. Southern Financial Systems would do the “hard work,” in collections. 

Lincoln County Circuit Clerk Christy Sheppard said the total in unpaid fines in April was $5.8 million in a report to the board of supervisors. Sheppard gave an update Monday saying work is ongoing to get everything turned over to the collection agency. 

“It is a long process. We have to go through the system and see which ones still owe. It has been a little time consuming,” Sheppard said. “In three months, we will see some results in what they have been able to collect.” 

Brookhaven offered an amnesty period for unpaid fines to be paid off at a discounted rate this spring. 

One reader asked if the courts suspend drivers licenses for unpaid fines. The justice court no longer suspends driver’s licenses for unpaid fines. Mississippi stopped suspending licenses for unpaid fines and court costs according to the Department of Public Safety in 2017. 

Drivers licenses are still suspended for all other violations permitted under state statute such as driving under the influence. 

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