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