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An estimated 5,800 Lee County drivers, representing approximately 36,268 citations, now have the opportunity to reduce their overdue toll fines to $10 per citation, potentially saving them a thousands of dollars.

“We are hoping to get as many people taken care of as possible moving forward,” Clerk of Courts Linda Doggett said. “We have no cut off date. We will reevaluate every year and see what we can do to clear off these old cases and that is just for toll.”

The toll amnesty program, a partnership between the Clerk of Courts and the Honorable Lee County Judges, launched last month for overdue toll fines filed with the clerk prior to Jan. 1, 2020. Within the first two weeks 9,300 citations were closed, saving drivers more than $1.55 million. The program has already helped thousands of drivers reinstate their license.

Individuals can take advantage of the program only if they have overdue fines filed with the Clerk prior to Jan. 1, 2020, by making a payment at www.LeeClerk.org, scheduling an appointment via TeleClerk, or by calling (239) 533-5000. Payment plans are available to eligible individuals.

All collection, delinquency and payment plan fees are waived during the toll fine reduction. There is still a license reinstatement fee required for the Florida Department of Motor Vehicle.

The toll amnesty program was launched in tandem with Operation Green Light, which compromised approximately 85 percent of all customers during the statewide program.

Doggett said a few years ago she was looking into why they had so many toll citations. During one of the hurricanes, when the toll gates came down, allowing people to go on and off the island, or between the Cape Coral bridges to get out of town more quickly, she said it created a situation where people just went through the toll booths without paying.

When individuals did not pay they went into a collections program where they received three letters reminding them to pay, which also included a late fee.

“If they didn’t get any response after trying to get people to pay for 90 days, then they would create a citation saying you broke the law and file it with the clerk and add a $100 fee onto that citation,” Doggett said, adding that by statute, the clerk added another $100 fee.

Now that simple, $2, $3 toll became a $236 bill. After the court sat on the citation for a while without a response from the individual, a letter was then sent to the Department of Highway and Safety Motor Vehicles, resulting in a driver’s license suspension if it was not resolved in 10 days with the Clerk’s Office.

“In the end, after another 60 days, we would send them to a collection agency. A suspended driver’s license in with a collection agency added another 25 percent on top of what was already owed,” Doggett said.

To help individuals, Lee County now uses a collection agency for toll violations, instead of the Clerk’s Office.

“Some people were on a payment plan for four years trying to pay off a toll of thousands of dollars. The situation to me is just crazy,” she said. “This should not be happening. It’s not good for our community. It’s not good for the court system. It’s not a court matter in my mind. It’s really a great job for the collection agency. They are going to add a fee, but not $236. They are much more successful for trying to collect a smaller dollar amount.”