FRANKFORT, Ky.—Governor Ernie Fletcher today announced that the Kentucky Department of Revenue collected more than $2.3 million in past due child support on behalf of single parents and their children during FY 2005, an increase of 849 percent over child support collections just two years ago.
The Department of Revenue estimates that total child support arrearages in FY 2005 totaled $1.4 billion. Thirty percent of parents who owe child support don’t pay anything at all.
“As a father, I find the number of child support delinquencies we have in Kentucky astounding and profoundly unacceptable,” Governor Fletcher said. “During my first two years in office, I have been committed to doing something to correct this terrible wrong.”
Under the direction of Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Robbie Rudolph, Revenue collections officers are working with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) to aggressively collect past due child support on behalf of Kentucky’s single parents and their dependent children. To date, nearly 14,000 child support cases have been referred to the Department of Revenue by CHFS, resulting in more $4.8 million in support that has been recovered on behalf of these families.
“This money not only provides the financial support these custodial parents and their children deserve, but it also helps them regain their independence and self-esteem and reduce their reliance on temporary government assistance,” Rudolph said. “We have not yet calculated the long-term savings this increase will provide to the taxpayers, but the human savings are priceless.”
Under the Fletcher Administration, the Department of Revenue has steadily increased child support collections. In FY 2003, the department recovered $244,356.92 in past due child support. In FY 2004, $366,805.52 in delinquent payments were collected. During FY 2005, the first full fiscal year of the Fletcher Administration, collections increased to $2,317,957.14. Since July 1, 2005 another $1,905,448.111 has been collected on behalf of Kentucky families.
“We are now collecting almost more per month that had previously been collected per year,” Rudolph added.
The Kentucky Department of Revenue estimates that nearly 9,000 cases with an arrearage of $55 million have not yet been assigned to collections officers. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated that nationally 17 million American children are victims of a non-custodial parent’s failure to pay child support.
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