Westmoreland County collects more than $100k in owed court fees through tax returns

The Westmoreland County Clerk of Courts office this year collected more than $100,800 under a new program that diverts state tax refunds from criminal defendants who owe court costs, fees and restitution.

Clerk of Courts Bryan Kline said the office collected more than $91,000 in the last month prior to the April 18 tax deadline.

The collections were part of a state program enacted last year in which defendants who owed at least $2,000 in court costs and restitution were subjected to confiscation of state tax refunds. The threshold dropped to $500 this year.

That program last year generated about $500 for the county, Kline said.