Fulton County is ending its contract to find unpaid taxes on airplanes, with county officials saying it’s not worthwhile since the county doesn’t get all the tax money that’s found.
The county has had a contract with Aviation Capital Partners of Cleveland, Ohio, doing business as Specialized Tax Recovery, to identify aircraft parked at Fulton County Executive Airport on which county taxes should be paid, but which haven’t been reported for tax purposes.
That has brought in about $3 million, but the county has paid Specialized Tax Recovery about $1.2 million for the service, according to county Finance Director Hakeem Ohikoya. The problem is that tax revenue is shared with Fulton County Schools — and the school system has not been helping pay STR’s fees.
What the county gets isn’t enough to cover the company’s fees, Chief Financial Officer Sharon Whitmore said. The county asked if the Fulton board of education would share that cost, but was told the board attorney wouldn’t bring it up, she said.
Commissioner Bridget Thorne asked if the school board might participate if the contract was renegotiated.
County Attorney Y. Soo Jo said she believes the board attorney declined because the existing agreement “behaves like” a contingency contract, in which the school system could not legally participate.
The county does its own tax valuation of aircraft, but those targeted under the contract were aircraft the county couldn’t determine were taxable here, said Roderick Conley, chief appraiser in the Fulton County Tax Assessor’s Office. Most of the owners aren’t Fulton residents, though the planes are based here.
Commissioner Dana Barrett said she’d like to see if all parties would talk about a new contract. For now, the contract termination passed 6-0, with Commissioner Bob Ellis absent.
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