King William Interim Treasurer Marie Wilson updated the Board of Supervisors at Monday’s meeting on the $1.4 million in uncollected taxes on 295 delinquent properties.
According to the report, there are about 400 properties, including both personal property and real estate, dating back 30 years, with about $1.4 million in uncollected taxes.
The total includes delinquent penalties and interest on unpaid personal property and real estate taxes. Of the nearly 400 pieces of property, 295 include unpaid real estate.
Wilson, who has worked in the office for 16 years, inherited the undertaking in October when Whitt retired from his constitutional office.
Now, Wilson is working to collect the back taxes and ensure there are fewer delinquent properties as the office moves forward; an undertaking Wilson described as difficult and labor-intensive.
“It’s a tough thing to do,” Wilson said, choking back tears. “I get emotional about it.”
In October, Wilson began working with Taxing Authority Consulting Services, a law firm that focuses on managing accounts and collecting taxes for municipalities, to address the problem.
All of the delinquent properties and their accounts were turned over to the firm and notices were sent out in November.
Once notices are received, property owners have 30 days to respond. If they do not, another notice is sent out.
While folks can set up a payment plan, they are required to pay an initial down payment to keep ownership of the property. If the plan is defaulted, the property owners cannot get another payment plan.
According to state code, there are several ways a locality may collect delinquent taxes. Typically, after three years, localities send properties to a collection agency — which King William has opted to do.
If property owners continue to miss payments or do not respond to the collection agency, their property will be seized and put up for auction.
But Wilson said once a property is seized, it will take some time before an auction will take place. Typically, litigation could take six to nine months, and residents can reclaim their property anytime during the process if they pay the full amount owed before the auction date.
According to Wilson, utilizing TACS will not cost the county any money, as they add additional service fees on collected taxes.
“One good thing about turning these properties over to this agency is they have a lot more objectivity. They’re not seeing these people every day, at the grocery store, at the school,” Wilson said. “They want to move these people forward.”
Turnover audit finding
Wilson also discussed the office’s recent turnover audit and reconciliations. Following Whitt’s resignation in the middle of his elected term, the county ordered an audit to correct the books and ensure everything is in order for the new treasurer following the February special election.
In the process of the turnover audit, conducted by Robinson, Farmer, Cox and Associates, the county learned that for the past five years, the Treasurer’s Office had been allocating additional funds to the school division.
Although the Treasurer’s Office has several bank accounts open at several different banks, it became common practice for the treasurer’s office to balance all of them together instead of separately.
So, when completing reconciliations, the books were balanced by totaling all of the bank accounts together and then subtracting money spent. According to the former audit, this was all done in green books and in pencil, which made it difficult to read.
The audit is still in process to determine the exact amount of over-budgeted funds sent to the school division. The county will have more information at its Dec. 14 work session.
The King William Board of Supervisors will hold its next regular meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 28 at 180 Horse Landing Road.
For more information, visit kingwilliamcounty.us.
Em Holter, emily.holter@virginiamedia.com, 757-256-6657, @EmHolterNews.
