Sylva to step up tax collection efforts

By Lynn Hotaling

Delinquent taxpayers within Sylva's city limits should pay up or face the consequences.

That's the message from town tax collector Lynn Allen, who announced last week that Sylva is stepping up its efforts toward collecting overdue accounts.

"The town is actively pursuing delinquent taxes," Allen said.

Sylva officials have already initiate foreclosure proceedings, Allen said, and plan to attach bank accounts and/or garnish wages as part of their collection strategy.

Allen will list all who still owe any portion of their 2000 taxes in the Thursday, March 29, edition of The Sylva Herald. To avoid inclusion on that list, she said, Sylva property owners must settle their accounts by Monday, March 19.

Two lists of delinquent taxpayers will be published this year, Allen said. Changes in state law mandate publication of property owners as of Jan. 1, 2000, as well as property owners as of Dec. 31, 2000, for all parcels on which taxes are still due.

Taxes were billed Sept. 1 for the 2000-01 fiscal year, Allen said, and were considered delinquent Jan. 6.

Interest is charged on all amounts outstanding after Jan. 6, Allen said, and is assessed at 2 percent initially and .75 percent for each subsequent month taxes are overdue.

Sylva has improved its percentage of taxes collected each year since 1993, Allen said. The town collected 93.92 percent of revenue due it in 1990 and raised that percentage to 96.39 in 1995. Last year, Sylva collected 97.29 percent of the taxes owed. That percentage would have been even higher, 98.6 percent, except for the inclusion of motor vehicle taxes, Allen said.

For the current tax year, she said, the town has collected $792,000 - all but $48,500 of its $840,500 total - for a collection rate of 94 percent to date.

Through aggressive collection efforts during the past year, the town has reduced its 10-year balance (1990-99) of unpaid taxes from $34,087 to $15,739, Allen said. The additional revenue resulting from these collections helped offset the town's recent loss of $20,000 in state funds, she said.

Foreclosure proceedings are begun when property owners are deemed unwilling to pay taxes owed, Allen said.

"Many parcels are in the hands of heirs, and the taxes have been delinquent for years," she said.

As a result of a recent foreclosure, Sylva now owns a half-acre parcel adjacent to Keener Cemetery. The total owed for that property, including city and town taxes and attorney fees, was $3,100, which was the minimum bid set, Allen said. When no one bid on the property, Sylva paid the county its share of the back taxes and obtained title to the parcel.

Town board members decided March 1 to offer that property for sale.

Property owners with questions or concerns about taxes may call Allen at 586-2719.

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