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JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT GOES AFTER DELINQUENT PROPERTY TAXES

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:25 AM CDT

Six Jefferson County businesses with delinquent personal property taxes were served with legal papers Tuesday demanding they pay up.

Sgt. Jametta Harper of the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department serves legal papers at Jerry’s Department Store Tuesday afternoon on Main Street. Jerry’s is one of 84 businesses with delinquent personal property taxes. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

County Tax Collector Stephanie Stanton said the six were among 84 businesses with delinquent personal taxes, some from as far back as 1990.

None of the businesses, Stanton said, have responded to phone calls or registered letters from her office. Collectively, the businesses owe $82,284.53 in delinquent taxes.

“We issued certificates of indebtedness and writs of execution, which the sheriff’s office served on the first six today,” she said. “Seventy-five percent of the tax money goes to the school districts and the schools need the money.”

Property taxes are collected a year behind, with 2008 taxes due by Oct. 10 of this year.

The six businesses who were served Tuesday by sheriff’s Sgt. Jametta Harper, the years owed and the amounts are as follows:

Jerry’s Department Store, 313 S. Main St., 2003-2007, $11,299.90

Pine Bluff Furniture Co., 309 S. Main St., 2006-2007, $3,972.20

Fiesta Mexicana Mexican Restaurant, 3141 W. 28th Ave., 2002-2007, $5,235.91

Alan K. Minor, CPA, 106 S. Main St., 1990-2007, $474.34

Dr. James Trice, Digestive Disease Center, 7005 S. Hazel St., 2007, $1,460.57

U.S. Recovery and Collection, 210 Highway 81 South, 2006-2007, $2,536.50

“We’re not trying to strong arm people but they need to do what’s right,” Sheriff Gerald Robinson said. “We have to pay our taxes and they have the same obligation.”

In addition to the amounts they already owe, each of the businesses served with the legal papers will be billed an additional $138, the cost of filing and serving the documents.

“One of the advantages of us serving these is that they can’t tell us ‘no,’” Robinson said. “We give them time to come up with the money but if they don’t, we can actually till-tap and take the taxes out of the register.”

The businesses who received the legal papers Tuesday were given until Sept. 3 to take care of their obligations.

“I’m going to check with them a couple of weeks before that to remind them of the deadline, and if they don’t pay, we will do what the law requires us to do,” Harper said. “If they claim they’re broke and can’t pay, they’re gong to have to prove to me they’re broke.”

The Arkansas General Assembly has also given counties an additional tool to help in collecting delinquent taxes, allowing tax collectors to actually hold business equipment then sell it at auction.

Act 555 also provides penalties for interfering with or obstructing the sale of or access to the equipment or goods seized.

Stanton said sending out one certified letter to a delinquent business owner costs the county $5.71 and the cost to mail out the 45 letters she has sent so far was $256.

“We’re having to spend taxpayer money to get people to come and pay us and that’s not right,” she said.

The certified letters did have effect, Stanton said, as one business, Regency Inn of Pine Bluff, paid its taxes in full Tuesday, while another 10 made arrangements to satisfy their obligations.

Those 10 were Smiles Cards and Gifts, Clark Printing Co., Dentras Health and Beauty Lounge, Eastwood Garage, Lions Den Barber Shop, N & N Speed Shop, Pine Bluff Cleaners and Laundry, Port City Rigging and Mechanical Service, Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio and the Trophy House.

“As long as they’re sticking to their arrangements, we’re going to leave them alone,” Stanton said.

A complete list of businesses owing delinquent personal property taxes will appear in The Commercial at a later date.

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