Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Licensing Procedure Manual
For those closed and unlicensed providers with unpaid fees (licensing, certified, and background checks) and forfeitures remaining after receiving the past due letter, BECR may refer these providers to the DCF Bureau of Finance for collection purposes. The following criteria must be met before a referral is made to the Bureau of Finance:
The outstanding balance has been past due for 90 days, with no active negotiations or payment plans in place, and
The provider is unregulated, either because s/he is closed or the individual was never licensed, and
The balance owed is at least $50.
Upon receipt of the referral from BECR, the Bureau of Finance will initiate collection efforts on behalf of BECR. The BECR referral is made through completion of the standardized format titled Closed Child Care Center/Unlicensed Provider – Refer to Finance, located in the Standardized Formats section on the BECR Intranet. The Bureau of Finance does not initiate collection efforts without a referral from BECR. A provider may have outstanding fees from more than one source, such as an unpaid forfeiture amount resulting from enforcement action in addition to unpaid caregiver background check fees. Only one referral, showing all fees owed and the amount of each, should be made to the Bureau of Finance. A determination that the provider has outstanding caregiver background check fees is made by reviewing the transactions module in WISCCRS.
The Bureau of Finance will send an invoice to a BECR-referred provider to collect the outstanding fees upon receipt of the referral. If the provider does not respond to the Bureau of Finance collection notice in 30 days, two additional attempts will be made to collect the debt, at 60 days and 90 days after no response. If the provider has not responded to the collection notice at this point, the Bureau of Finance will send a letter along with the invoice to the provider indicating the amount owed and the consequences of failure to pay. This letter states that pursuant to Wis. Stat. §. 71.93 (8), the Department of Children & Families may refer the debt to the Department of Revenue (DOR) for collection action. The provider is given 30 days from the date of this letter to pay the balance due in full. If the balance is not paid, collection action by DOR may include garnishing wages, levying bank accounts, interception of state tax refund and filing a delinquent tax warrant.
By the time that a referral for collection has been made to the Bureau of Finance, it is assumed that the provider has exhausted all legal options to appeal the outstanding fees and that s/he does not have an agreement/arrangement with the region. However, upon receipt of an invoice from the Bureau of Finance or the notice from the Bureau of Finance that the outstanding balance may be referred to DOR, the provider may then indicate that s/he wishes to contest the debt.
When the provider contests the debt following receipt of a Bureau of Finance invoice or the Bureau of Finance letter indicating a referral to DOR is imminent, the Bureau of Finance will refer the provider to the BECR Regional Office to resolve the dispute. BECR will inform the Bureau of Finance as to the outcome of these discussions. If there is some type of alternate agreement between the BECR Regional Office and the individual, the Bureau of Finance must be notified of those circumstances/conditions as they relate to the collection efforts.
This page last updated 08/2021.