Efforts to collect unpaid fines at Troy Municipal Court are working, court officials said.

The city has served numerous warrants over the summer for unpaid fines and court costs according to Neal Armstrong, court administrator for the Troy Municipal Court.

In November 2015, the City of Troy cut ties with a third-party private collection company that handled the collection of court fines and costs.

The city attempted to notify individuals who were paying fines through the company that they needed to arrange to make payments directly to the court.

Warrants were issued in April for those who failed to do so. The city originally set a March 9 deadline, but extended even more time before issuing the warrants.

“We actually allowed another 30 days and sent out another complimentary mailer to try to get people to court to try to take care of their business,” Armstrong said. “We tried our hardest to get these people to come in in the spring.”

As of February 23, nearly 200 people were at risk of having warrants issued for their arrest. Armstrong estimates that about 20 percent of those responded before the extended deadline to avoid a warrant.

“A bunch of warrants were issued, a bunch of people have been arrested and a bunch of people have paid,” Armstrong said.

“On those warrants that have been served, those people have cleared their balances.”

The warrants issued were for contempt of court or failure to pay fines.

Armstrong reported that those who had defaulted on their payments owed a total of $30,000 to $40,000 to the city.

He said that he isn’t sure how much of that has been paid back yet because he does not know which warrants have been filled.

“Some people owed a lot more than others and I’m not sure which people have been arrested,” Armstrong said. “It’s also hard for me to look at $1,300 that was deposited today and say that $400 of it was old money, because that’s mixed in with the daily deposits.”

Although many of the warrants issued have been filled, Armstrong said that a good many more are still active.

Armstrong said that those who still have an outstanding warrant for their arrest can save themselves the embarrassment by coming in.

The city has also put their records online so that residents can check on outstanding warrants, fines and balances.

That website is www.municipalrecordsearch.com/troyal.

The court is located at 300 Elm St. in Troy and can be reached via phone, 334-566-4248; via FAX, 334-566-4845; via email, court@troyal.gov; or in person at 300 Elm St., Troy.