City’s Delinquent Tax Collections Down

LIBERTY, December 5, 2008 - The City of Liberty in years past has had a contract with the Liberty County Tax Collectors Office for the collection of its delinquent property taxes. However, in March of 2005 the Liberty City Council decided to go it alone and hire their own delinquent tax attorney to collect its delinquent property taxes.

When the taxes were being collected by the County’s Tax Attorney approximately 7% of the total taxes levied by the City was being collected. Since the City hired their own tax attorney, only about 5.6% of the tax Levy has been collected through the collection of delinquent taxes.

This amounts to a shortfall in the collection of delinquent taxes of about $30,000 dollars per year. In a single year this amount may not be that bothersome, however, over time, year after year it begins to add up. In the budget years of 2006 through 2008 the City has fallen short by over $88,000 dollars.

Looking back on the decision of City Fathers to go it alone and hire their own tax attorney has not worked out well and has cost the City valuable income.

Review the table below

Year	Year Ending	COL Budget	COL Tax Levy	Del. Collected	% of Levy	6.95% of Levy	Shortage
2003	9/30/03	$17,395,664.00	$1,564,286	$108,585.00	6.94%
2004	9/30/04	$18,791,187.00	$1,617,470	$105,277.00	6.51%
2005	9/30/05	$18,473,100.00	$1,680,136	$124,851.00	7.43%
2006	9/30/06	$18,505,634.00	$2,047,321	$111,190.00	5.43%	142,288.81	$31,098.81
2007	9/30/07	$19,414,470.00	$2,042,245	$114,862.00	5.62%	141,936.03	$27,074.03
2008	9/30/08	$20,181,200.00	$2,381,165	$135,333.00	5.68%	165,490.97	$30,157.97
Definitions
COL Budget	City of Liberty Budget
COL Tax Levy	Property Tax Levy for the City of Liberty
Del. Collected	Deliquent Taxes Collected