AUGUSTA – Many people are sentenced to pay fines to the state as part of their punishment for breaking the law.

Maybe not surprisingly, a fair share of those payments are never made.

One estimate claims Maine has approximately $3 million outstanding in uncollected fines. The Androscoggin County Superior Court’s clerk office said it issues about 20 warrants a month because of payment defaults.

Linda Mason, the court clerk, said if a person fails to pay their fine, after 30 days of default the court issues a warrant for arrest.

“They’ll get arrested, they’ll go to court,” she said. “They’ll get a new payment order, that they swear they can abide by, and a couple months down the road we’re issuing another warrant.”

If the court decides the person’s failure to pay is unexcused, the violator may be taken into custody and begin serving jail time. The person can serve no longer than six months in jail and must be credited with at least $5 a day toward paying their fine.

Mason said the court uses jail time as a last resort.

But with an ever-tightening budget, every little bit helps.

As part of an effort to reduce the burden on the state’s jails, Gov. John Baldacci signed legislation on Wednesday that will allow judges to replace that jail time with community service.

Marion Hylan Barr, the legislative policy analyst who worked on the legislation, said it does not grant the judges the power to change sentences.

“A court can’t change a sentence,” she said. “You have to go through the process enough to have an unexcused default. You can’t just go to court and say, ‘Oh geez, I can’t pay this, can I just do community service instead?'”

The law is scheduled to take effect in mid-July and would only apply to Class D and Class E crimes, which include convictions for drug possession, operating under the influence and assault.

Geoff Rushlau, a district attorney and president of the Maine Prosecutor’s Association, said the minimum mandatory fines for OUI or assault range from $250 to $500, for a first offense.

The measure is not expected to increase the amount of fines that are collected, but rather provide an alternative for judges who want to enforce sentences without burdening the already over-budget and overflowing county prison system.

For each eight-hour day of community service, the court would subtract at least $25 off from the total fine.

John Lebel, jail administrator for Androscoggin County, said he did not think very many of the 140 people his facility is holding are there because of failure to pay fines.

“I am sure there are some,” he said. “Anything that we can do to reduce some of the crowding in our facilities will definitely help.”

He said each person in his jail costs the state at least $50 per day.

Hylan Barr, the policy analyst, said the state’s overwrought jail system was brought up during committee discussions of the bill.

“That comes up on pretty much every single bill now,” she said. “The cost to the system for the loss of revenue, both to the state and the counties, was a concern. The current process is pretty burdensome.”

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