P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4353
It shall be the obligation of the mayor to make all necessary efforts to collect all debts of natural or juridical persons that are registered in the accounting books or records in favor of the municipality and to resort to all means authorized by law to collect said debts within the same fiscal year in which they are registered or up to the date they are due. Court action shall be taken in certain cases when necessary, and when the municipality lacks sufficient funds to contract the required professional legal services it shall refer the cases to the Secretary of Justice. The mayor shall resort to the Commission to Resolve Controversies over Payments and Debts between Government Agencies to take steps to collect debts against other government agencies, public corporations or municipal governments, pursuant to the provisions of 1751 et seq. of Title 3, known as the “Act to Create the Commission to Resolve Controversies over Payments and Debts between Government Agencies”. When the debt, due to its nature or amount, or both, affects the budget estimates and/or the programmatic accounts for the appropriation of funds for a fiscal year, said situation shall be reported to the Commissioner.
The municipality may write off any debt or obligation in its accounting books if the same turns out to be uncollectible after the Municipal Finance Director conducts the evaluation provided in subsection (j) of § 4255 of this title.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 8.003; July 24, 1998, No. 169, § 5; Sept. 7, 2004, No. 258, § 20; Feb. 17, 2006, No. 61, § 8; Jan. 3, 2014, No. 4, § 2.