Accomack County Board Hears Recommendations On Tax Collection - AGAIN

Still talking it over and rehashing.......Now the brilliant conclusion has been drawn to hire ONE person   on a FULL TIME basis for  collecting delinquent Accomack County taxes.  Well BRAVO!  What a brilliant discovery- FINALLY!  Meanwhile, some of those that are severely delinquent are steady buying properties in the area.....just saying.......

A study ordered by Accomack County came to a conclusion at Wednesday night's meeting in Accomack. Stephanie Davis of the Public Sector Advisors Springsted gave a detailed report on objectives, methods, findings and recommendations for helping collect the County's unpaid taxes from taxpayers.

The report used onsite interviews with several Constitutional Officers of Accomack County, telephone surveys with other counties in the State of Virginia to compare with Accomack County and conversations with County Administrator Steve Miner and Finance Director Mike Mason.

According to the findings, Accomack County does not issue delinquent tax notices in a timely or consistent manner, delinquent tax collection tools authorized in the Code of Virginia are not used, the County lacks written policies and procedures in regard to delinquent tax collection for internal staff, County staff and citizens. The report also found that the County Treasurer's office is currently understaffed by approximately one employee. Several of the Counties which were compared to Accomack in the study had an employee who's sole job was collecting delinquent taxes, a position Accomack does not currently have filled.

Wanda Thorton was unhappy with the study. According to the motion that authorized the study, the study was to emcompass the Treasurer's office, the Commissioner of Revenue's office and the County Assessor's Office. The final report was centered mainly on the Treasurer's office, which Thornton told Davis was "no fault of your own."

Treasurer Dana Bundick spoke after the report was finished, claiming certain details were left out of the report by Davis because "it would make the County look bad." Bundick also stated the Board's direction for the Treasurer's office to work in cooperation with the Commissioner of Revenue's office was the reason for the deliquent taxes notices being late. Finance Director Mike Mason then chimed in and said this claim was "misleading."

Davis concluded that the collection efforts have improved and that the Treasurer's office is making improvements. Davis also recommended the Treasurer's office hire a full time position of tax collector and advertise the position as soon as possible. Currently the position is funded, but no one has been hired. Regular reporting was also a recommendation of the report. Other recommendations included clarifying language regarding customer service, job descriptions and creating an ethics policy for the Treasurer's office.

A motion for the recommendations to be placed onto a checklist to be followed by the Constitutional officers of Accomack County passed unanimiously.

Source;  shoredailynews.com

Accomack County Supervisors Still Have NO Answers

By Linda Spence

The Accomack County Board of Supervisors met on Wednesday, November 17, at the board chambers in Accomac.

Well, the top 20 delinquent tax payers don't have to be concerned about their names being in lights, on a big sign that is, but Supervisor Donald Hart isn't letting them off easy. Hart stated that these people have owed this money for a long time. Hart went on to say it's not fair to the low income, fixed income, elderly and other citizens who pay their taxes on time. The board agreed that the names of those delinquent tax payers will be put in big, bold letters in an advertisement in both local papers. To avoid this from happening, these county property owners need to pay up now.

Several citizens addressed the board during the public comment part of the meeting, including Accomack County Citizen Toni Trepanier; Trepanier asked the board why the county has citizens social security numbers to begin with. She said the county doesnt extend credit and she has never asked for credit and doesn't understand they have her social security number. Trepanier was referring to the county's stolen laptop that contained citizens' private information.
Concerning that stolen laptop, County Administrator Steve Miner gave an update. He reported that he has met with the Counties insurance advisors and their IT Specialists who made a number of recommendations that are being implemented, including encrypted software that is being installed. He also stated that the County Attorney's office is set up for any claims of fraud. According to Miner, there have been no reported cases of fraud that are affiliated with the stolen laptop and he encourages the citizens to remain vigilant.

According to County Attorney Mark Taylor, the notice provided by the county regarding the laptop theft complied and was approved by the VA Attorney General's Office. He stated that they have no information at this point that anyones identity information has been misused as a result of this theft. He continued, "it is most likely that the information has been cleared and the laptop has been resold. We would like to think that happened, but we cannot and have not proceeded on that basis. We have tried our best to protect our citizens without educating the crook on what could be on the computer."

And there's another crisis in the county, but this one has 4 legs. There's simply too many cats that are unvaccinated which can easily contribute to feline disease and most importantly rabies. Supervisor Ron Wolff had led the proposed idea of requiring cats to be licensed, but after talking to citizens and learning more about the issue, now believes that licensing will not achieve what he had hoped. He withdrew his attempt to license cats and the board voted unanimously to find a group of citizens who can come up with possibilities to help find a solution for the rabies and overpopulation problem.
www.shoredailynews.com