Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / March 13, 2019, edition 1 / Page 2
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2A THE CHOWAN HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13,2019 A property tax chat with Radke ■ Tax administrator discusses process From Staff Reports Chowan County Tax Ad ministrator Melissa Radke recently provided a primer on property taxes that may be helpful for folks getting letters in the mail and mak ing plans. Question: When are taxes due? Answer: Taxes become due (on or around January 5th each year), Second No tices are sent out right af ter bills become delinquent (early January), Enforced collections begins; Intent to garnish wages letters are sent out in February, Wage garnishments are sent in March, Intent to Advertise letters are sent out in March, Advertisement occurs fust Wednesday in April, Intent to garnish Bank Account let ters go out in March/April, Bank Garnishments are sent out April/May. We try to find any heirs to property as well as locating current employ ers or banks all year long; Debt Set-Off submitted to the state clearinghouse each December, letters of notification for this go out in November each year. Q: Tell me a little bit about delinquent prop erties? A: County’s agreement with the Town of Edenton stipulates that any town properties must be at least one year delinquent prior to submittal to foreclosure attorney. We try to collect from these delinquent ac counts up until they are submitted to bur foreclo sure attorney utilizing our Delinquent Tax Collector, Ashley Eure. On top of these enforced collection measures we offer to put delinquent accounts on payment plans to help ease the tax burden and get de linquent accounts paid in full before submitting to foreclosure. Q: How many parcels are affected? A: Since October of 2016, Zacchaeus Legal Services of Trenton is our foreclo- sure attorney. Our first set of 75 parcels were sent to them in February 2017'. We have sent a total of 6 as signments so far for a total of 308 parcels since we first began. One-hundred-forty of those 308 have been paid in full; one was pulled out due to bankruptcy filing. More than $540,000 in de linquent tax revenue has been collected on these previously uncollectible properties since this pro gram began. Q: How much is past due? A: We currently still have 167 parcels in the foreclosure program with $989,796.60 (currently) remaining delinquent from tax years 2008-2018. From that total, there is $53,045.14 that is Town of Edenton tax revenue and $936,751.46 that is Chowan County tax revenue. One- hundred-twenty-three of these 167 parcels are vacant land while 44 are improved parcels (meaning they have a house or building of some kind on them). Eighty-nine parcels re main unfiled with the Clerk’s office as of yet, meaning they haven’t been started RADKE by our foreclosure attorney. 50 are currently in the per sonal service stage (stage 1 of foreclosure), 22 are in the final demand/pre-judgement stage (stage 3 of foreclo sure), 6 are in the publica- tion/judgment stage (stage 3 just before sale). Generally, the inhabited parcels end up paid prior to judgment. These account for the ma jority of the current 140 that are paid in full so far. Q: What’s the goal? A: The end goal here is to get these properties that have been simply sitting uncollected back on the tax revenue books in the hands of county residents who will pay and do some thing with the properties. This will help ease the tax burden for the rest of the county taxpayers. Many of these properties are owned by heirs who do not live in Chowan County and many of which may not even real ize the property exists. This can create many properties being left vacant to simply sit and deteriorate. TEA Continued from 1A months recovering from her injury. “But I cheered on my team, supporting them at every competition I could go to,” she said. Wood noted that during her sophomore year in col lege, she became an N.C. State cheerleader. Afterward, she focused on beauty pageants and competed in the Miss North Carolina pageant several time. She said that during her time on the pageant scene, she learned a lot and trained in order to prepare herself. She also made some friends, including the guest speaker of last year’s “Tea for Two,” Miss North Caro lina Victoria Huggins. While having a crown is nice, it really doesn’t mean a lot, Wood said. She told the girls to be true to themselves and work hard to achieve their dreams. Wood also encouraged them to help others by supporting them. “Be a cheerleader for others when they are down,” she said. The purpose of “Tea for Two” is to empower all of White Oaks girls to be the best they can be. NICOLE BOWMAN- LAYTON/CHOWAN HERALD Meredith Wood, an assistant extension agent of 4-H Youth Development in Perquimans County, speaks about going after your dreams during “Tea for Two” on Monday at White Oak Elementary School. CRIMEWATCH Chowan County Sheriff’s Office Arrests Jonathan Simmons, Sandy Terrace Drive, Eden ton, was arrested March 8 and charged with driving while license revoked (non impaired) and a warrant served for Watauga County. Grettel Valdes, Happy FUTURE Continued from 1A going to be what drives and motivates a timeline that is aggressive.” Burroughs asked the ad ministration to take that all- important first step toward making a decision by seek ing a demographic study. Such reports can light the way by forecasting future population trends — you don’t want to build a new school to house 800 students if demographics indicate a downward trend in popula tion growth in rural North Carolina Browder said the BOE could do some things to take the initiative, such as pay for demographic and facility studies. “Let’s take it upon our selves and handle it so that is done,” he said. “I think we need to do that, because I believe that gives us skin in the game. It shows we have the initiative to make this thing take place.” BOE gave its blessing to seeking out a contractor within the next two months to begin the work needed to conduct a demographic study. A new high school is es timated to cost in excess of $44 million — an amount that may come from vari ous combinations of funding sources if the policymakers pursue that path. Because current estimated costs are more than a few years old, experts who have spoken to the joint committee contend that future construction costs will most certainly be higher. To add into policymakers’ stress of making the right decision, the emergence of charter schools in the re gion may take its toll on an already declining student population — numbers that directly affect the bottom line. And there is talk of per haps the county building a new jail — a move that will affect the county’s future fi nancial decision-making. The bulk of financing for any project will need the voters’ approval of a local bond initiative, but as yet there doesn’t seem to be any movement toward sooner rather than later. “There didn’t seem to be a lot of push to get this thing ready to put on the ballot in 2020,” Browder said. “It’s just my opinion, but it seemed like that we must ready to reconcile the fact that we just couldn’t do it, too much to get ready. We’d have to do it 2022.” Policymakers are waiting on a blueprint of bond regu lations and financing from the North Carolina Local Government Commission. Browder said recent meetings for the joint com mittee have reverted to dis cussing the same informa tion that has been around for many years about new school building projects. He said rather than a 2020 time frame for action regarding a local bond initiative, the calendar dates for any such initiative appeared to be sev eral years down the road un less the BOE took the lead. “Honestly, when we left the meeting, we were at a place I believe where we were not doing much of anything until 2022, with the possibility of starting school construction in in 2024 or 2025,” he said. “We as school board members spoke up and expressed our dissatis faction with that. Obviously in order to fund a project of this size, there is probably going to need to be a bond referendum that is put on the ballot for the commu nity possibly, unless funding comes from the state.” Burroughs added, “We can’t wait a month here and there. You’re right. I got the impression that 2020 is out of the picture - I don’t think so. I think there is ab solutely no reason why we can’t have a referendum on the issue in 2020. You might as well just have to face that fact that we are going to have to have a referendum if we are going to do any thing.” Jordan said his hope is that it will be possible to get the bond initiative on the ballot in 2020 and not have to wait until 2024. “As Mr. Browder said, if we have to wait until 2024, how long will be before we actually start doing any thing?” he asked. “We are going to continue to work. I’m still hopeful and that by working with commission ¬ ers who seem to really want to do this. We can make this happen.” Plough school board members support a state bond initiative, they are in a see-it-to-believe frame of mind when it comes to funding from Raleigh. “The governor talked about $2 billion for new school construction, but we all know that’s not going to happen because we know it will be less than that — a compromise somewhere between the powers that be. And even then, it has to be approved,” Browder said. Though $10 million in state grant money is avail able, the school district is not in position to collect such funds until the shiny shovels come out to inaugu rate any such project. “We’re not able to take advantage of some grant money out there now be cause we are not shovel ready,” Browder said. “The truth of the matter is, we are leaving about $10 mil lion on the table that we could have access to if we had been more aggressive in our preparations to build a new school or renovating the school we have, what ever the decision is.” Browder said many things can be done before any debt service is incurred. “You don’t start paying on the debt service until after the building is complete,” he said. “If we hired an archi tect today, it would be year and a half before we ever put a shovel in the ground. And it would be another two years before it was ever complet ed. At best, if we go with the renovation model, it could be three years before it is ever finished. So we’re talk ing four and a half years if we were to start today. And that’s well within the debt payoff aspect of it before any payment would become due in the process.” Home Road, Tyner, was arrested March 10 and charged with driving while license revoked (non-im- pairecl). Incidents Deputies responded to a call of a theft from a mo tor vehicle on March 5 on White Oak Drive. Deputies responded to a call of first-degree trespass and possession of marijuana on March 9 on Okisco Trail. Recycle this newspaper. BANKRUPTCY Q. FORECLOSURE O LAWSUITS h- CAR REPOSSESSION C/)TAX LEVIES AND GARNISHMENTS Call Allen C. Brown Attorney 252-752-0952 A Debt Relief Agency helping people eliminate debt through bankruptcy Halsey's LAWN & GARDEN 1009 Badham Rd. EDENTON 482-2525 Mon. - Fri. 8-5 • Sat.. 8-4 • Sunday M Compare Our CD Rates Bank-issued, FDIC-insured 6-month APY* Minimum deposit $1,000.00 CHOWA^HERALD (USPS 106-380) Vol. 84, No. 11 Published Every Wednesday Adams Publishing Group Entered as a second-class matter August 30,1934 at the Post Of fice of Edenton, North Carolina, under Act of March 3, 1870. SUBSCRIPTION RATES , Daily Advance home delivery area $30* (Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Camden, Currituck, parts of Gates) Elsewhere in continental United States $47 *Plus applicable sales tax. Activation fee of $2.99 will be collected with all new subscriptions. Deactivation fees may apply for early cancellation. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO: The Chowan Herald • P.O. 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March 13, 2019, edition 1
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