Warren County’s Justice Court judges want to take a step forward in technology and implement a system to allow people to pay their fines by credit of debit card as well as cash.

It’s a proposal worth considering.

The judges’ reason for wanting to allow credit card payments seems sound: bring the county in line with modern payment options and improve collections, which they said are running behind collections in 2014.

Problems collecting fines are common for justice and city courts in the state, and local courts are continuously looking ways to improve fine collections and make it easier for people to pay. The Vicksburg Municipal Court has an annual amnesty program that offering offenders a chance to pay their back fines and avoid going to jail for contempt of court that has been successful in recovering past due fines.

Vicksburg also allows people to pay their fines by credit card. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen in 2013 approved the concept under a plan where the person is assessed an additional fee for the service. In other words, the offender pays the cost of the operation, not the taxpayers.

Technology has taken over our society, and buying goods and services with credit and debit cards and making online purchases through the Internet are becoming common practices. Changes are soon coming that will allow people to use their smart phones and iPhones as a credit card.

City and county governments need to move forward and begin applying the new technologies to the way they do business to improve efficiency and cut the costs of running government.

Paying by credit card is not an alien practice for the county. The Warren County Tax Collector’s Office already allows people to pay their property taxes and car tags online with credit cards. Credit cards have been allowed to pay for car tags since 2002. Given the county’s long experience with the tax collector’s office, it seems a good idea to allow justice court, which also deals daily with collections, to get online.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors is considering proposals by two companies offering to provide the software and the machine that will make it possible for people to pay their fines with the swipe of a card instead of having to go through the process of getting the cash to pay their ticket.

The supervisors need to sit down, take their time, and examine the proposals by both companies, and settle on a plan that tracks with the city’s operation where the offender pays the cost of running the service. It makes sense for the county and for the court, and it might help get more fines paid.