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Law firm pursues late taxes
Published July 18, 2008
ANGLETON — The law firm hired to collect taxes from more than 10,000 delinquent Brazoria County accounts is promising aggressive action to bring those accounts current.
Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins and Mott, LLP, has mailed notices amounting to more than $10 million in outstanding taxes, firm partner Mike Darlow said. Taxes for 2007 were due in October and became delinquent Feb. 1.
Late notices were sent beginning July 1, Tax Assessor-Collector Ro’Vin Garrett said.
The county is willing to work with taxpayers, she said.
“I’ll be glad to work out a payment agreement with those who are having a hard time paying us,” Garrett said. “We’d like to have 10 percent down and we’ll work with them. I don’t want to take their house and don’t want to add more cost. We’d rather work out an agreement with them. They just have to contact our office.”
The vast majority of taxpayers take care of their obligations, according to a joint press release from Garrett and Darlow. Paying now helps taxpayers avoid “the cost and embarrassment of being sued,” the press release states.
Penalties are steep, Darlow said. Any account not settled by the end of June already has accrued a 12 percent penalty, 6 percent interest and a 20 percent collection fee. An additional 1 percent is added each month until the bill is paid, he said.
“It certainly is costly,” he said. “Those who don’t pay can only expect the situation to get worse.”
The county has collected between 94 percent and 96 percent of all taxes due all entities, including schools and cities, Darlow said.
“On average each year, it’s the last 4 or 5 percent of the levy that remains unpaid,” he said. “It’s a small percentage overall, but our goal is 100 percent.”
The company generally collects about 90 percent of delinquent taxes with the remainder of property foreclosed. The law firm currently is conducting a telephone campaign to collect outstanding debts.
“We’re willing to work with any taxpayer who’s willing to get their bills paid,” Darlow said. “We can work out a short-term agreement depending on their situation.”
Residents may contact Garrett’s office directly or pay through the law firm. The worst thing to do is nothing, Darlow said.
“They’re already in default,” he said. “At some point, we’ll have to decide when they’ll be sued. Over the next 60 to 90 days, we’ll start selecting accounts for litigation. They had an opportunity to pay from October of last year to February before they started accruing penalties and interest. They’ve received notices along the way, and our delaying any further doesn’t do the taxpayer any favors.”
Accounts first are selected for lawsuits based on the amount owed, but all accounts delinquent eventually will be acted upon, Darlow said.
Garrett urges taxpayers to work with the county and not companies who offer deals to pay taxes. If anyone enters an agreement with a lender, the right to foreclose transfers with that company and not the county after the lender pays the taxes.
“They’re buying the lien,” she said. “Please try to work with my office instead of seeing a money-lender. I’ll work with them before it gets too bad. Let those lenders be the last resort.”
John Lowman covers Brazoria County for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 849-8581.
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