Wong asks about low collection rate and its causes

Thank you.

Majority leader.

Commissionally, I believe you just testified that in fiscal year 2026, you collected $88 million in ECB debt.

Yes.

So is it fair to say?

That out of the $573 million that's potentially collectible, you may only be able to collect $88 million in the coming year without this program?

We are hopeful that it will be greater than that once we build in some of our partnerships.

With the other city agencies that implement additional strategies.

But right now, as of 2026, for fiscal year 2026, DOF collected $88 million.

So can you talk about what contributes to this low rate of collection?

Yeah.

Let's not talk about the program for a minute.

Look at your existing issues.

Yes.

Please talk about why you're only able to collect such a low rate.

And sometimes it's because respondents cannot be identified.

Sometimes it's because respondents no longer exist.

Or businesses no longer exist, we have a period in which we outreach to them, and then we have a period in which our outside collection agencies reach out to them.

But after that,

It is deemed uncollectible.

And so we are right now going back into the uncollectible category to see if it could recategorize as collectible.

And we're trying to increase efforts to do better collections internally by employing new strategies and working with our partner agencies.

So it seems to me outreach is a big issue.

Like for businesses that you no longer hear from.

It could be a issue, yes.

I see.

Okay.

All right.