Just weeks before DeKalb County leaders must decide whether to raise property taxes, a new investigation shows deadbeats owe the county more than $62.5 million in fines and fees.
The bulk of the money on the table comes from the county water department, which was owed $43.9 million as of December, according to an investigation by Channel 2 Action News.
Another $15.8 million was unpaid from patients transported by the county fire department, while the county recorders court was owed nearly $3 million from people on probation who did not complete their term.
Even a fraction of that cash would make up the $25 million hole in the current year budget from declining property values.
The county’s chief executive Burrell Ellis is expected to ask for an increase in taxes when mid-year budget adjustments are made next month. But commissioners expressed dismay Tuesday about a tax hike when there is still money on the table.
“It’s difficult for us to say to the taxpaying citizen, ‘we’re looking to raise your taxes,’ when we haven’t gone after the people who owe us,” said Commissioner Lee May, chairman of the board’s budget and finance committee.
The question of a tax increase has long been a source of tension between Ellis and the commission. The board rejected Ellis’ proposal to raise taxes by 1.86 mills in February and instead cut nearly $34 million from the 2011 budget.
Last week, Ellis announced property assessments will drop about 10 percent, not the 4 percent factored into the budget. That created a shortfall that many expect to be made up with new cuts and possible new taxes.
Trying to temper a tax hike, the commission’s budget committee Tuesday asked staff for a timeline to show how quickly the county can get bids from collection agencies to go after the scofflaws.
It wouldn’t cost the county upfront, since agencies usually charge a percentage of money collected for their fee.
“So we pay a percentage to get the rest,” said Commissioner Elaine Boyer. “I don’t see why we aren’t going after them.”
The county has already accepted bids from collection agencies to go after those who owe for water and sewer bills, said finance director Joel Gottlieb. The commission could hire a firm for that service in the next few weeks.
Capturing that money, and going after the others, will still take time. It’s unclear, for instance, how much the county is owed from more than 150,000 false alarms from home and business security systems in the past two years.
The county doesn’t have a registry to know who owns the systems so it doesn’t know who to fine once an address exceeds its four warnings, said chief operating officer Richard Stogner.
And, with unpaid ambulance fees, many of those not paying are indigent, he said. The county must transport them, even if they can’t or won’t pay the $675 fee.
“The fact of the matter is, there are a lot of people who refuse to pay,” Stogner told commissioners. “You can’t get blood out of a turnip.”
Some commissioners counter that the county isn’t even trying.
“I think we have to do it,” May said of hiring collection agencies. “We need to collect every dime owed to us.”
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