Vance County Tax Administrator Jennifer Williams recommended to county commissioners the use of what is known as “sheriff’s execution” as a last-resort option to collect more than $1.4 million in delinquent personal property taxes.
There are a total of 1,481 delinquent accounts, Williams told commissioners during an Aug. 17 work session, although there probably are more now since that number is a few months old now, she added.
The sheriff’s execution is allowed by state law and works much the same way as a civil or criminal summons in that it requires a sheriff’s deputy to serve paperwork to the person in question.
Williams reiterated to commissioners throughout her presentation that a sheriff’s execution would be the method of last resort, after the numerous other methods of collection of delinquent taxes have been exhausted.
There was consensus among commissioners present to proceed with developing a formal policy that the board would consider at a future meeting; no action or vote may be taken at a work session.
County Manager Renee Perry said she had spoken with Sheriff Curtis Brame, and she told commissioners that if this was the route commissioners wanted to take, he would support it and “make it happen.”
WIZS News spoke with Brame Tuesday morning and he clarified that he supports doing his job.
“My job is to execute the paperwork,” Brame said. “I hate it’s coming down to this, but people know that the sheriff’ and local law enforcement are burdened with certain tasks that they may not want to do or not in favor to do, but according to law, if the paperwork comes across our desk, we have to enforce it.”
Having the additional job of serving sheriff’s executions could place additional burdens on the sheriff’s office, which is dealing with chronic staffing shortages.
Brame said his deputies are responsible for carrying out their duties, which includes serving all the legal documentations – civil and criminal – that come across the sheriff’s desk. That documentation likely will include in the future sheriff’s executions.
In her presentation, Williams suggested looking at “the highest recovery potential accounts,” as well as business accounts.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt said he would like to see the process begin with the oldest accounts first. Some accounts are two years old; some are as many as five years old, Williams said. One individual could have multiple delinquent accounts.
Although the county uses several different methods to recover the money owed – including payment plans, garnishment of wages and bank attachments – it can be difficult to track down people or businesses if they’ve moved out of the county or if the county doesn’t have current information.
When a sheriff’s office serves a person the sheriff’s execution paperwork, the deputy also would identify eligible property that could be seized and sold to help recoup the delinquent taxes.
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