More money is owed victims of crime in the form of fines ordered from criminal defendants than there is money left in the account from which it’s supposed to be paid, as Warren County supervisors intend to seek a court order to free up what’s left.

No restitution checks were sent from the circuit clerk’s office for April and the first half of May, which covers the final month and a half that former clerk Shelly Ashley-Palmertree was in office. The District Attorney’s Office revealed in July $9,857.50 was owed to victims whose offenders were ordered by the court system to do so as part of their sentence. Payments are first made to the clerk’s office, which must be settled to the county before victims are paid.

Fresh off witnessing an unusually high-profile hearing in county court Friday to show cause in a civil matter where the soon-to-be-jailed ex-clerk appeared, supervisors learned Monday a $30,062.58 chunk of money owed for payments for April that should have completed that circle is still unpaid. It left the county board looking to the same court system which hands down the sentences in the first place.

“I feel we’re going to have more of these show-cause claims,” said Brenda Theriot, victims assistance coordinator for DA Ricky Smith on Monday during a customary monthly update to the county board.

Friday’s hearing dealt with a case of property sold for a sum that was deposited to the court registry after a claim was placed on it during a divorce. Palmertree avoided further jail time when her attorneys paid $17,459 as part of a $36,000 settlement in the matter.

Officials fear such individual claims might be out of the reach of lower-income victims of crime who can’t afford legal representation to push the issue in court.

“Those are people who can afford to get an attorney and do that,” Theriot said. “I feel bad for the victims that are not able to do that.”

Supervisors resolved Monday to file a motion asking the courts allow $32,640.99 frozen in the former circuit clerk’s criminal fee account to be thawed out so at least some victims can be paid. Interim circuit clerk Greg Peltz, appointed by the county the day Palmertree was removed from office amid residency issues, started new criminal and civil fee accounts on his first full day of work, both with a zero balance.

The $39,920.08 owed to victims exclusively for April through mid-May exceeds the account’s balance, making a request of the courts necessary, board attorney Marcie Southerland said.

“We need guidance from the court,” Southerland said. “It’s a very appropriate action to follow. The state auditor’s office agrees with that; we’ve discussed it on several occasions.”

It was unclear whether the request for relief would be filed in circuit court or rolled into the ongoing civil case in Hinds County involving more than a $1 million in questioned payments in Palmertree’s office over five years’ time. Hinds Chancellor Dewayne Thomas, presiding judge in that case, had ordered the account closed.

In the past week, county officials and State Auditor Stacey Pickering have indicated they will pursue vigorously CNA Surety, which issued bonds on Palmertree on her two full terms in office and U.S. Fire Insurance Company, which issued her final bond when the former was canceled. The company has retained its own counsel in the civil case and has fought liability in court proceedings.

“These are two bonding companies at issue here,” Southerland said. “One of which is liable to Warren County taxpayers in the amount of $300,000. There is another bond for $100,000. At some point that $400,000 will be on the table.”

Also left unclear Monday was how the money would be prioritized once and if the funds are unfrozen.

“This will be settled by those who file (for show-cause hearings) and protect their interests first,” District 5 Supervisor Richard George said.

The three-term former clerk was sentenced Sept. 29 to five years in jail for embezzling $12,000 from the two holding accounts on two occasions in 2012. The civil case in Hinds involves more than $1.04 million in payments above the state’s salary cap for circuit clerks and questionable payments to her predecessor in office, Larry Ashley, between 2006 and 2011. On Monday, Thomas allowed the state to amend the case to include $156,500 to cover similarly questioned activity from 2012. Also on Monday, Thomas ordered Palmertree’s final two payroll checks, totaling $24,435.88, be held in the Warren County Chancery Court registry until further order from him.

Testimony in the matter, first filed in March 2013 by Palmertree against Pickering and the county and later countered, is expected to continue in January. No specific dates have been set.