MORGANTOWN. W.Va. — Monongalia County Sheriff Perry Palmer and Chief Tax Deputy Kelly Palmer presented the 2018 delinquent tax list to the Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday, noting the list of names is 227 pages shorter than the 2017 document they turned in this time last year.
“We actually were able to collect 4,369 more tickets this year than we did last year. The norm is about 8% to 9% uncollected taxes. This year it’s 6.4% because we sent the postcards in April,” Kelly Palmer said, adding that sending the cards saved the county around $1,000, and paid off as a reminder to the taxpayers.
All told, the county has $6,568,434.24 remaining in delinquent taxes from 2018, broken into $4,617,283.49 in real estate taxes and $1,951,150.75 in personal property taxes. That’s down from just over $8.3 million in 2017.
Kelly Palmer went on to say that efforts to collect delinquent taxes don’t stop with the submission of the tax list. She noted that all of the real estate taxes will be collected after the sheriff’s tax lien sale in November. As for the personal property taxes, she said that between the sheriff’s office and prosecuting attorney’s office, those debts will be pursued “indefinitely.”
“We never stop,” she said.
In other news, it was announced that a “Pop-up Plaza” arts event will be held on the courthouse square from 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Event organizer Amy Loomis said the gathering will feature music, live art-making demonstrations and hands-on opportunities for would-be artists. She said there will also be shaded seating and a coffee cart.
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