Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Kosciusko County Prosecutor David Kolbe will meet with a representative of state legislative services to help draft proposed legislation for a new seizure law, Kolbe said Tuesday.
At the request of state Senator Kent Adams, Kolbe will help prepare a new seizure law that allows authorities to seize vehicles from drunk drivers and from drivers with suspended licenses.
Eleven states permit such confiscations, he said Tuesday at his September press conference, "and I think that Indiana ought to be the 12th."
"I hope that the citizens of our county feel this benefits them," he said.
The change in seizure laws is a project Kolbe has vocally supported for several years.
Kolbe said he also is going to ask the legislature to reconsider dropping the legal limit for driving while intoxicated from .10 percent to .08 percent.
Another project the prosecutor's office has made highly visible is collecting delinquent child support payments, and Kolbe said collections have increased 41 percent between 1994 and 1996.
He said the billboards that appear around the county are partly responsible for the increase: "They bring up an awareness that this is important in the community."
Of 92 Indiana counties, Kosciusko County rates 31st in child support collections, he said, having collected more than $3 million in 1996.
In the past, the state has refunded to the county a percentage of the delinquent child support payments collected. One-third of that refund, called "incentive money," goes to the county general fund; one-third goes to the county clerk's office; and one-third goes to the prosecutor's office. That money may be used for anything, Kolbe said, except to supplement his income.
The prosecutor and county clerk often use the incentive money for personnel and equipment that is not funded by the county.
However, Kolbe said, changes in state and federal law are resulting in a reduction of that incentive money, which is diminishing rapidly, he said.
"I perceive that in the future that may well go down to zero," he said.
A reduction in the incentive funds may result in a greater dependence on the county for funding.
