Outstanding Ad Valorem Taxes in the Home County
A report by TPC Editor, MB McCart
In light of the recent revelations that the outstanding property tax bills of the late George Hart were approaching $550,000 with no payments having been made in the last several years despite the fact that a payment plan was supposedly to set up years ago, though based on my research not a penny had ever been paid, this publication became very interested in some of the other outstanding property/ad valorem tax bills in the county. Particularly in light of the resignation of the previous Newton Co. Tax Commissioner, Barbara Dingler, at the end of September, this endeavor seemed needed.
I reached out to the new Tax Commissioner - Dana Darby - the day after she took office. A few days later, I asked for the Top-25 largest tax debts owed to the office. Within a few days one of her assistants emailed the full list of delinquent tax accounts totalling over 600 pages!
The list was over three months old, however, so I did make a good faith effort to double check all of these debts at the Tax Commissioner’s website to make sure the information I’d publish would be as current as possible.
In no particular order, here are some of the largest (based on dollar amount as well as number of years) delinquent tax accounts in the home county:
- David W Plott. Property ID: 00160 131. Approx 37 Ac Bethany Rd.Total due: $35,458.03 Delinquent for at least 9 years.
- Plain Nuts. Business Inventory/Equipment . ID #’s: P1 56584 - 1 & P1 42980. Total due: approx $4,968 delinquent for at least 9 years
- James Clay Newman. Property ID: C0350 0070 049. .195 Ac Clark’s Grove. Total due: $90,948.05 delinquent for at least 9 years
- William Norton. Property ID: C0400 00020 018. Tract 9 Turner Lake. $4,239.01 owes for 7 years.
- COVINGTON RENTAL.
P1 15618 0001. Total Due: $15,313.58. Owes for at least 5 years.
P1 40325 001. Total Due: $2,753.33. Owes for at least 4 years.
|||||||
This is just the tip of the iceberg, readers. There are literally several dozens more, if not hundreds. A recurring theme:
This is just the tip of the iceberg, readers. There are literally several dozens more, if not hundreds. A recurring theme:
It seems as if a lot of folks just don’t really care about paying business inventory & equipment ad valorem taxes. That seems very unfair to the majority of business owners that do. I’m not sure of the particulars related to those taxes vs actual property taxes where there can be a forced tax sale on those. I’m going to be reaching out to Dana Darby to get more information on that.
And speaking of forced tax sales & the buying of tax certificates, my research did discover that there have been a few of those recently. Say what you will about that process & the folks that do a lot of those (Ricky Mock comes to mind as one of the biggest players in Newton Co.), at least it does get those outstanding property taxes paid.
I’ll be doing another report on some additional delinquent tax accounts in the near future.
