Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 23, 1993 TAG: 9303230273
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
PULASKI REVIEWS TOUGHER STANCE ON OVERDUE TAXES
The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors got a briefing Monday night on a toughened procedure for collecting delinquent county taxes.Treasurer Rose Marie Tickle and Sam Campbell, the lawyer hired to go after delinquent real estate taxes, said the new measures seem to be working.
People with delinquent personal property taxes get letters from the treasurer's office early in the year. Letters on delinquent real estate taxes go out in August, after the first half-year tax collection.
Other steps include having the Sheriff's Department serve a summons on delinquent taxpayers, or having their names published in the newspaper when they have been delinquent for three years.
The final step in collecting delinquent real estate taxes is to sell the property involved, and Campbell said that has happened a few times where taxes have remained unpaid for three years.
"We've sold some," he said. "Nobody's been put out of their homes, put on on the street, anything like that."
Campbell said he has heard a wide range of excuses for non-payment, including a belief that the bank had been paying the taxes from an escrow account or not knowing the taxes were owed. Most people are willing to work out some method of paying, he said.
"The overwhelming majority will make some arrangement. There are some who don't," he said.
By this fall, a mechanism will be established so the Division of Motor Vehicles can tell whether someone applying for a state tag renewal has paid their personal property taxes. Motorists who have not will be unable to get new state licenses or local decals.
Supervisor Bruce Fariss suggested dropping the $20 decal fee since the process of simply getting new decals should assure more taxes being paid. But Commissioner of Revenue Maynard Sayers said there are thousands of cars in the county of minimal value that would generate little personal property tax revenue.