Mayor Nutter's on a $1 billion hunt to chase down all the folks who owe bail money to the city.
Over the past 40 years, that's how much money has gone uncollected, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.
"We want our money," Nutter said Monday when he announced the city's plan collection plan.
Stand Up, Pay Up is the name of the campaign targeting 200,000 people who owe bail money. Deadbeats owe, on average, about $4,500, according to Judge Pamela P. Dembe, president judge of Common Pleas Court.
"Sadly, I don’t think we are going to be able to collect $1 billion," she told the paper. “We’re going to go out there and collect as much as we possibly can.”
If you're one of the bail deadbeats, you'll get a chance to set up a payment plan before you face more painful consequences when the city hunts down you and your assets.
“A lot of them are going to be the mothers and fathers of the defendants,” explains Cary Flitter, who handles debt-collection cases for the law firm Lundy, Flitter, Beldecos & Berger. “They knew that was the risk when they were signing [the bail agreement].”
Mayor Nutter warned this is no game.
"You want to play games? Go down to the Wachovia Center – not here in our city government.”
