Anson County citizens owe $1,071,000 in delinquent taxes for last year, according to county tax collector Joe Dutton, who said the county will become “more aggressive” this year.
The $1 million is owed just for 2015. The total amount of delinquent taxes for the past 10 years is just under $4 million, Dutton said. The amount averages about $400,000 or slightly less per year for the last 10 years.
Some of the money is owed by individuals who simply haven’t paid but the county knows exactly who owes it. Others are owed by heirs to a property, and it takes time for the county to contact those with possible claims before the foreclosure process can begin. Once that is finished, the county can sell the properties at auction on the courthouse steps.
“We will do more foreclosures this year, but it’s an expensive process because of due diligence,” Dutton said. “We have to make sure everyone is notified who has financial claim.”
Some properties may have 150 or more people to contact, Dutton said.
“The commissioners have said ‘Do it, do it, do it,’” Dutton said. “There will be more foreclosures, more garnishments, more debt set-offs. Not because we were lax in the past, but we will be more aggressive.”
The county published the names of those who owe delinquent taxes in a special section of the Anson Record last week as required by state statute. Those whose names appear have $20 added to their bill per line for the listing, which Dutton said both helps offset printing costs and provides an added “incentive to pay.”
The county had about a 94.7 percent collection rate last year, but this year’s rate was not available as of press time. Dutton said the rate compares “very favorably” with counties similar to Anson, and he expected about a 94 percent collection rate for 2015.
The average amount on a delinquent ticket for this year is $435, Dutton said.
At the commissioners’ June 2015 meeting, the board approved the wage garnishment of 79 county employees who owed delinquent taxes. Those employees made up 20.85 percent of the county’s total employees, Rita James, county director of information technologies, told the board at the time.
They owed a total of 109 delinquent tax bills. Forty-seven employees owed on a total of 69 delinquent vehicle tax bills totaling $4,817.91. Forty real property delinquent tax bills belonging to 32 employees totaled $11,015.11.
The employees owed a total of $15,833.02 in delinquent taxes, or 0.58 percent of the county’s total delinquent taxes from prior years, James said at the time.
Dutton said that he did not have the information available on how much the amount owed by county employees has reduced available by press time.
Funds from paid delinquent taxes can be used for capital improvement projects. The courthouse and Belk building renovations were both funded by collected delinquent taxes.
Dutton’s office is in the Anson County Government Building located at 101 S. Greene St., Wadesboro. For more information on tax collections, visit the office, call 704-994-3218, or email jdutton@co.anson.nc.us.
Reach reporter Imari Scarbrough at 704-994-5471 and follow her on Twitter @ImariScarbrough.
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