NOTICE PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SEC. 2254.1036
WHEREAS, the CITY OF SAN BENITO, TEXAS ("City"), will consider entering into a
contingent fee contract with the law firm of Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins & Mott, L.L.P.
("Firm") and hereby posts this notice pursuant to Sec. 2254.1036 of the Government Code.
WHEREAS, this notice shall be posted before or at the time of giving the written notice required
by Government Code Sec. 551.041 for a meeting described by Sec. 2254.1036(2) of the
Government Code and shall announce the following:
A. The City is pursuing a contract with the Firm for the collection of delinquent fines and fees
owed to the City and through this contract the City seeks to increase recovery of its delinquent
debts in as expeditious a manner as possible. GovT. CoDE § 2254.1036(1)(A).
В . The City believes the Firm has the competency, qualifications, and experience necessary
to fulfill this contract. GovT. CODE § 2254.1036(1)(B). The Firm has collected delinquent
government receivables for more than 50 years, and more specifically the collection of delinquent
fines and fees for nearly 20 years. The Firm currently has 15 primary offices and multiple satellite
offices throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. It employs more than 400 individuals, including
over 60 attorneys. It uses a multi-office, fully integrated team approach allowing the City access
to all its offices and resources. Its collection team consists of long-term Firm employees, including
attorneys, call center associates, paralegals, law clerks, legal secretaries, collection support
personnel and information technology experts. The Firm utilizes proprietary collection software
that can be tailored to meet any special need the City may have. This proprietary software also
automates many aspects of the collection process, such as: account/debtor research, mailings and
phone calls, return mail and address updates, payment notification and processing and work-flow.
C. The nature of any relationship between the City and the Firm is as follows. GOVT. CODE §
2254.1036(1)(C).
The Firm does not have an existing relationship with the City.
D. The City is unable to perform the collection of its delinquent fines and fees. GOVT. CODE
§ 2254.1036(1)(D). The City currently does not have adequate support staff, computer
software/programming, or experience to internally conduct these collection services and acquiring
these will result in substantial expense to the City.
E. These collection services cannot be provided for an hourly fee. GOVT. CODE §
2254.1036(1)(E). The Criminal Code allows the assessment of a percentage-based fee to recover
the costs of collecting delinquent fines and fees. This percentage-based fee is assessed only against
the debtor and not the City or taxpayers of the City. The collection of delinquent fines and fees is
a high volume practice, requiring a significant amount of research, mailing, and handling of
outbound/inbound calls. An hourly fee for such work will likely exceed amount of delinquent fines
and fees due. Moreover, the City will bear the cost of these hourly fees and not the debtor, because
the Criminal Code does not expressly authorize the City to pay for collection services based on an
hourly fee.
The City believes this contingent fee contract is in its best interest. GOVT. CODE §
2254.1036(1)(F). Under the contingent fee contract, the Firm will be paid the amount of the
percentage-based collection fee, regardless the number of hours the Firm spends researching,
contacting and mailing to collect the delinquent debt. Additionally, the percentage-based
collection penalty is a pass-through expense to the debtor and not an expense to the City or
taxpayers in the City.