The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines governing the invoicing and collection of outstanding receivables. The Board incurs invoices including but not limited to non-active employees for wage overpayments, invoices to external customers for services rendered, invoices for restitution, and invoices for returned checks that, if left uncollected, results in loss of funds that could otherwise be used to benefit students.
Board of Education invoicing and collection activity shall be conducted in a manner that allows for timely recovery of funds.
All collection activity shall adhere to the laws established by The Federal Trade Commission, the Code of Ethics in Sections 14-202 of the Commercial Law Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, Sections 3-501 – 3-509, Wage Payment and Collection Law of the Annotated Code of Maryland, Title 15, Commerce and Trade Sections 1601-1700 of the U.S. Code Annotated and the Fair Debt Collection Practices and Reporting Act. Customers shall be treated with the utmost tact and respect.
The Board authorizes all collection actions, where permitted by law, including but not limited to, use of a collection agency with reporting of accounts over $500.00 to a credit bureau when no payment has been received within ninety days, litigation, actual court appearance, judgments, wage garnishments, and electronic debit of returned checks.
Collection activity is monitored quarterly by the performance management metric measured as the percentage of outstanding receivables greater than 61 days.
This policy will be carried out by the Superintendent of Schools/Secretary/Treasurer of the Board of Education, through the Office of Cash Management based upon a standard office procedure specifically developed for this purpose.
Policy Adopted 4/29/10
Updated August 25, 2011
