by Larry Chowning
On Tuesday, August 6, the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors urged county treasurer Betty Bray and commissioner of the revenue Bonnie Davenport to crack down on those not paying county taxes.
Board chair Chip Holt said, “We want to make sure that when the supervisors set the tax rate and other folks do the assessment and collection and when we turn around and spend it, the taxpayers get the best bang for their buck.”
Bray and Davenport presented names of property owners who have not paid their 2018 taxes. They reported there are $279,000 of unpaid real estate taxes and $155,000 in unpaid personal property taxes. The treasurer has collected 97.8% of real estate taxes and 96.8% of personal property taxes.
They had a list of those who had not paid in 2018 and asked if the board wanted to run names of delinquent taxpayers in the local newspaper. It would cost between $1,500 and $2,000 to run the list in the newspaper, said Bray.
She also noted supervisors could approve running the list of delinquents on the county webpage and run a small ad in the local paper saying the names are available on the webpage.
Holt said, “There you go,” stating his preference to run the list on the county webpage.
Meals tax
When Harmony Village District supervisor Kathleen Swinehart asked Bray for names of restaurant owners who have not been turning in meals tax revenue, the treasurer said she could not give out that information, even to the board of supervisors.
The county’s meals and lodging taxes are referred to as “trust taxes,” said Bray. The restaurant and lodging facility owners collect the taxes and are trusted to turn them in each month.
“Does revealing the name of the business violate state (code) guidelines because it is linked to the sales revenue of a business?” Swinehart asked.
“Yes,” said Bray. “We are interpreting this from the code section provided to us by the county attorney (Heather Lewis).”
“So, if the business trusted with collecting keeps the tax, what is done about it?” Swinehart asked.
Davenport said the person will be summoned to court and could be arrested and serve jail time. “It is embezzlement when they take that money,” said Davenport. “We contact them and we try to set up a payment plan for them. We have gotten payments. The longest pay back plan is for five years.”
Swineheart said Louisa County in 2018 took four businesses to court for not paying meals tax and the county won back $43,000. The report in the newspaper stated that by taking those four businesses to court other businesses started paying their delinquent meals taxes without having to go to court, she said.
“Do you think the county can handle the collection of meals tax under the current system where 100% of the trust tax on meals can be collected?” Swinehart asked.
Davenport said her office can handle the load.
“Can you tell us the total amount in delinquent meals tax that is outstanding?” Swinehart asked.
“I don’t think we can give you that information,” said Bray. “According to the code section, I don’t think we can give you any information on meals tax. This information on meals tax is not in a public assessment roll book and that’s one of the things we are not supposed to disclose.”
Saluda District supervisor Pete Mansfield asked, “Are we spending more than we are trying to collect?”
“No, we are not,” responded Bray.
Hartfield District supervisor John Koontz said it is difficult to have good control over expenditures when the “forecast of revenues is incomplete. We’ve found numerous other counties addressing delinquent meals taxes on their county webpage,” said Koontz. “They give the customers’ names but I’m against that. I don’t believe in public shaming as a good way to collect taxes.
“Right now I can’t tell my constituents how bad the problem is,” said Koontz. “All we want to do is see if we are improving, how many delinquents there are, and how can we target the biggest offenders.
“We need to know if revenues have to be found elsewhere, and the elsewhere often has to come from those who are already paying their taxes—and that’s crazy,” said Koontz.
