Fewer Arlington County residents paid their taxes in June than in any time in county history.
The treasurer’s office went into crisis mode June 27, when it calculated that taxpayers owed $8.7 million in real estate taxes, originally due June 15. That degree of delinquency is almost double the county’s usual rate.
Treasurer Frank O’Leary’s office used tough tactics to induce offenders to pay their taxes, ranging from phone calls and letters to confiscating license plates from delinquents’ cars.
The county managed to recoup $7.8 million of the funds by Aug. 14.
O’Leary attributed the unprecedented delinquency to the faltering economy.
“The tendency of people is to make payments based on their personal priorities,” O’Leary said. “As a tax-paying agency, it’s our job to place ourselves at the top of their list.”
The treasurer’s office offers a Taxpayer Assistance Program through the Bank of Georgetown, which provides taxpayer loans. “We don’t want to grind anyone into the dust,” O’Leary said, adding that he encourages taxpayers to think ahead to the next real estate tax installment, due Oct. 5.
Prince William County experienced a $400,000 increase in delinquent personal property taxes between fiscal 2007 and 2008. Assistant Director of Finance Steve Ferlotti called the rise “not a big change,” considering the county was owed $10 million. Prince William County has since collected about $2.6 million of delinquent taxes, and will be using an outside collection firm for the first time to recoup the rest.
“We seem to have a lot more difficult time finding people. Hopefully they’ll have some more resources that can track folks down,” Ferlotti said.
By Maryland law, delinquent taxes are immediately placed in liens and sold at auction. “We did not see any particular spike” in delinquency, said Jennifer Barrett, director of the Montgomery County Department of Finance.
All the county financial officers said they rarely repossess a house because of delinquent taxes. O’Leary added his treasury office takes a hard stance against delinquency to keep the burden off other taxpayers.
“The amount of money the government spends is not going to go down,” he said.
