Bee County residents may have to pay off any fines and fees they owe to the city or county before they register their boats, RVs and automobiles in the future.

The proposed program was presented to county commissioners on Tuesday by Bee County Tax Assessor-Collector Linda Bridge.

“This is a program that I believe will really impact the budget,” Bridge told commissioners. “Right now we’re just looking at this program, but we believe it will be very beneficial to the county, in that we can use it to collect outstanding fees, fines and court costs owed to the justices of the peace courts or county court.”

The program, known as Scofflaw, is backed by state law and can also be used to collect outstanding fines and fees owed to municipalities under an interlocal agreement between the city and county.

The Texas Legislature adopted Scofflaw in 1997 but only one county — El Paso — has used it as a collection tool, Bridge said.

She said she has talked to El Paso County leaders about the program and she plans to travel to El Paso this summer to have a closer look at how the program works.

Since El Paso County adopted the Scofflaw measure in 2004, the county has been able to collect $1.7 million in outstanding fees and fines owed to the justice of the peace courts.

Likewise, the city of El Paso has been able to collect $1.6 million in outstanding fines and fees, Bridge added.

She suspected that start-up costs — computers, software and training — could be high but would be offset by the collection of outstanding fines and fees.

The city of Beeville is attempting to collect more than $1 million in outstanding fines assessed by municipal court and the Bee County clerk’s and district clerk’s offices also are attempting to collect untold thousands of delinquent fines and fees.