Public Notice Not Needed for Tax Delinquency in Guilford County

Advertising Tax Lien Costs and Corresponding Publications With Collection Rates by triadwatch on Scribd

more analysis from Roch Smith

https://greensboro101.com/data-on-legal-listings-is-bad-news-for-newspapers/

Just a little history on what you see from above . I had spoke to the Guilford County Commissioners on the outrageous bill the taxpayers of this county were given in regards to the one day posting in the local papers for a state law. The state law only states they have to post in one paid paper as you see the Guilford County Commissioners in 2012-2013 they posted in 3 papers at a cost  of $109,000. The commissioners made a great move and bid out the process where we see Jamestown News won the process for 2013-2014-2015 at a cost to taxpayers of $3900,$4700 and $4500. This saved the taxpayers over $100,000 from this bid process but in reality it should be a zero cost and not posted at all in the paid papers.

What we hear from editors and the N.C. Press Association all over this state is that this public notice on the tax delinquency bill is needed for example here is a link to a post from pilot online with

Delinquent Taxes Roll In  After Debtors Names are Published
http://www.thepilot.com/news/delinquent-taxes-roll-in-after-debtors-names-are-published/article_67362820-1e31-11e7-a3f6-6fb4f2ea1047.html

Let me debunk this myth on what we got from the Guilford County Tax Department. When we had multiple postings of the tax delinquency bill at $109,000 from Greensboro  News and Record, High Point Enterprise  and Carolina Peacemaker the rate of return was  98.53% in 2012-2013. Then we see that after the bid process it  went to the Jamestown News for the next three years with a rate of return at 98.83%,98.99% and 99.09% for the year. Jamestown News is a very small paper maybe with a reach of 10,000 people in a county of 500,000. So after looking  at these numbers you can say that even posting the tax delinquents in one of the smallest papers in Guilford County that the tax department was close to perfect even when nobody saw their name in a paid paper.

Having state law make cities and counties all over this state publish tax delinquents in a paid paper is a complete waste of money and looking at what happened in Guilford County goes to show that it is not needed and needs to be abolished as state law.

Guilford County Commissioners Save $92,000 with a Bid Process for the Tax Delinquency Bill

Above is the bill for last years tax delinquency from the Greensboro News and Record which if you take this years numbers $86,406 divided by 14,500 = $5.95 per line compared to below where they had to do a bid process with 3 other paid papers  and it was $28,855 divided by 14,500 = $28,855. How can one paper with no bid process charge $86,406 now with a bid process go down to $28,855?

What the Guillford County Commisioners did was a huge step in tax delinquency process where in the past they advertised in both News and Record, High Point Enterprise and also the Carolina Peacemaker . Under state law they only had to advertise in one paid paper that is where we had the request for proposal shown below. This bill to the taxpayers went from close to $97,975 to having the Jamestown News post the tax delinquency bill for 2013 at $5,945 a savings of
$92,030.

Granted this state law should go away with the invention of the internet and county web sites providing this information 24 hours a day and seven days a week but will take a savings of $92,000 on this for the citizens of Guilford County.

Triadwatch is doing some further investigation into what the Mecklenburg County Tax Department pays in regards to the tax delinquency bill to see if they have a bid process and what it cost the citizens of Mecklenburg to advertise in the Charlotte News and Observer. Stay tuned.

Inside Scoop had a post on this issue CLICKHERE

Guilford County Commissioners Public Notice Bill for Guilford County Taxpayers is Close to Nothing from $86,000 to $5,945

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

This is a update to this story below where at tonight's  Guilford County Commissioners Meeting 4-3-2014, the commissioners had the manager to a RFP which is a request for proposal to get the lowest bid to show the tax delinquency bill for the citizens of Guilford County . In the past this bill was $86,740.29 from a post I did on May 1, 2011 CLICKHERE . The request brought in proposals from Jamestown News circulation 5,000, Greensboro News and Record circulation 54,000, and Carolina Peacemaker circulation 6,000. The lowest bidder won with Jamestown News coming in at 41 cents per listing at a cost of $5,945 which was reported from Joe Killian at News and Record on his facebook account.

This is a great step for the citizens of Guilford County and hopefully we will see a change on the state level to modernize public notice laws to 2014 standards not 1949. County Commissioners go from $86,000 down to $5954 as savings of $80,000.

Below is the report from a few weeks ago on this issue at Rhino Times.



HAT TIP : Rhino Times
Scott Yost has a new article titled "County to Stop Throwing Good Money After Bad Taxpayers".

in the article were some interesting tidbits

"However, at a Monday, Feb. 3, Guilford County Tax Committee meeting, the committee decided unanimously to recommend to the Board of Commissioners that the county cease its current process of widely publicizing the names, and instead do the bare minimum required by law."

"Guilford County Tax Director Ben Chavis told the commissioners there was no evidence the mass advertisements of names is effective in getting people to pay up.
 
“There’s no guarantee we’ll recover the advertising cost,” Chavis said.
 
Chavis said that from the studies he’s read as well as from his personal experience, putting the names out there for the public to see doesn’t really do much good"

Phillips said he wondered why it has taken so long for commissioners and other county officials to have this discussion, which could clearly save the county money.
 
“I’m fascinated by the fact that there’s never been an in-depth conversation like we’re having now,” Phillips said."

_______________________________________________________________________________

This blog has been all over this issue since it was brought up to the Guilford County Commissioners last year on January 17, 2013 by me with video starting at the 7 minute mark here is a link

http://guilford.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=710 note the audio is very low and hard to hear.

Commissioner Phillips has known about this issue for over a year unless he wasn't listening to the speaker from the floor on January 17, 2013 in Keith Brown speaking.

Hopefully we will see some drastic changes in our public notice laws modernize to the year 2014 and this tax delinquency waste of taxpayers money is a start. It is great to see our commissioners understand this and take steps to lower our taxes and what better way then to do away with the tax delinquency notices in 3 publications when the state only allows you to have to provide it in one paid publication.It will be interesting to see a bid process for this item when in reality the only ones in Guilford COunty who can bid on the tax delinquency notice is either Greensboro News and Record, High Point Enterprise or Carolina Peacemaker. Who wants the contract? or will we see Greensboro News and Record cry foul over bidding on this money they were getting in the past totaling close to $80,000

If you would like to see plenty on this topic this blog has tagged plenty of topics under

legal notice

public notice

Did You See the $80,000 Waste of Taxpayers Money in Today's Greensboro News and Record?

Did you happen to see the insert in the Greensboro News and Record today which is the yearly waste of over $96,000 of your taxpayers money. Triadwatch has a public records request for this years final figures from the Guilford County Tax Department which might take a month to get the bills from the Greensboro News and Record, High Point Enterprise, and Carolina Peacemaker with them publishing the tax delinquency of citizens in Guilford County.

Each county and municipality has to by law under North Carolina General Statute 105-369 publish this in a paid newspaper. How many of you actually cared about looking at this insert in today's paper? Some of these North Carolina laws are such a waste of taxpayers money and having public notices in a dying circulation is not the future of public notices in the State of North Carolina.

We do have our newest member of the North Carolina Senate from Guilford County Dr. Trudy Wade introduce her first bill as a primary sponsor Senate Bill #186 which happens to be a public notice bill and hopefully we can get some momentum behind this bill for it to pass and become law.

If there was ever a complete waste of taxpayers money all you needed to do was pick up today's Greensboro News and Record to see the 21 page insert of tax delinquency in Guilford County but one thing that is known is you can see this on a 24-7 basis on the Guilford County Tax Department Web Site . Hopefully you are lucky to pick up today's paper to see this 21 page insert because tomorrow you will not see it at all and as we can also see from the updated Greensboro News and Record web site public notices are so important to them that they did not make one section for public notices be a part of their revised web site. We can see that the Charlotte Observer partnered with legal notice.org  to provide this information for their web content and added a public notices section. Will we see any changes from our local paper? I doubt it.

This blog post brought to you by triad citizens against government waste.

Dump Public Notice in Greensboro News and Record Save Guilford County Taxpayers Money with a Local Bill for State

Triadwatch wrote a letter to the Guilford County Commissioners and is in process of contacting our North Carolina State Representatives to save the taxpayers of Guilford County on money that does not need to be sent to the state mandated under the law local papers in Greensboro News and Record, High Point Enterprise and Carolina Peacemaker. Here is the letter sent to our Guilford County Commissioners:
____________________________________________________________________________

Dear Guilford County Commissioner,

 I want to save the taxpayers of Guilford County money that does not need to be spent. This past year i did a public request for information on just how much Guilford County spent in advertisement in regards to tax delinquency and Gregory French Assistant Tax Director sent me this attachment you will find in this e mail. In the attachment the tax department under North Carolina General Statute 105-369 spent $97,949.98 with the break down of advertisement going to the Carolina Peacemaker for $7,724.80, High Point Enterprise $9,878.40 and Greensboro News and Record $80,746.78.

Talking with Mr. French he told me that the tax delinquency for Guilford County is already available on the Guilford County web site 24 hours a day and seven days a week under the area of on line tax services then search tax bills then a header called delinquent bill search.

I would like to have our Guilford County commissioners work with our state delegation to have this North Carolina General Statute repealed for Guilford County because we as a tax department already provide this information on line for all the citizens to see.

Please advise me on how we can save Guilford County taxpayers money on this issue. We have seen a lot of states all over the country propose public notice laws to save cash strapped budgets. Many of these state laws were enacted before the Internet came into existence and hopefully we can in Guilford County propose a bill to lead the state in reducing even something as small as the tax delinquency bill for our citizens.

Have a great day!

________________________________________________________________________________

 Below you will see the invoices from the three newspapers which total over $97,000. After speaking with the Guilford County  Commissioners this past week during speakers from the floor there was a rebuttal from Commissioner Coleman on that the tax department has a fee on top of their tax bill that covers this invoice. I want to say to the Commissioners and every other taxpayer in this county that i don't care if you are a tax delinquent or pay your bills on time this advertisement in the local paper is a complete waste of money anyway you look at it. This bill was first introduced in 1939 well before the Internet came into play and now we have our local tax department have this information available everyday on their web site. It is time for our State representatives to pass a bill to exempt Guilford County from N.C. State Bill 105-369

 

 

2012 tax delinquency bills for guilford county nc by

Repost on Government Waste for Posting Tax Delinquency in Local Paid Monopoly Called Greensboro News and Record, High Point Enterprise and Carolina Peacemaker

NOTE: THIS IS A REPOST FROM LAST YEAR AND TRIADWATCH IS IN PROCESS OF GETTING A PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST IN REGARDS TO THIS YEARS NUMBERS FOR THE GOVERNMENT WASTE OF POSTING THE TAX DELINQUENCY of GUILFORD COUNTY IN THE PAID MONOPOLY LOCAL PAID PAPERS IN GREENSBORO NEWS AND RECORD, HIGH POINT ENTERPRISE AND CAROLINA PEACEMAKER. GREENSBORO NEWS AND RECORD HAD THE 2012 TAX DELINQUENCY in TODAY'S PAPER for 3-14-2012  

Triadwatch did a public records request with the Guilford County Legal Department in regards to public notices in local pay newspapers. One of the questions asked to the Guilford County legal department was this;

On March 23, 2011 in section C of the Greensboro News and Record there was a tax delinquent part of the paper that consisted of over 20 pages of tax liens from the Guilford County Tax Department . I would like to know specifically how much this 20 page part of the paper cost the taxpayers of Guilford County

Robin Keller Paralegal with Guilford County got in touch with the finance department  and this is what she e-mailed me back with;

"Regarding your question concerning the cost to run the delinquent tax listing on March 23, 2011, in the Greensboro News and Record, the amount was $86,740.29. I was also informed by our finance department that some or all of this cost is reimbursed when paid through an advertising fee that is added to the delinquent bills."

The finance department says that some or all of this cost is reimbursed but to me this is a wasteful use of taxpayers money. Does anyone really care about the tax delinquency in Guilford County? Should the county have a up to date database online for all to see on a daily basis for tax delinquency? I also found out that not only was this $86,000 invoice in the Greensboro News and Record but it was also in the High Point Enterprise as well and will update as to that amount as well and if the 2 papers are similar in costs  than this bill could be doubled to $172,000.

Public notices in local papers consists of a variety of issues from  foreclosure notice, general legal notice, notice of creditors, notice of hearing, notice of meeting, notice of sale, and request for bids. The public notices request was also sent to the City of Greensboro which has provided me with a lot of information in regards to the Carolina Peacemaker and the Greensboro News and Record. In future post this week i will show you just how much  money it is costing the taxpayers of this county and the city of Greensboro to advertise in the local papers of choice which is Carolina Peacemaker and Greensboro News and Record.

One of the main reasons to bring up this issue of public notices and the wasteful spending of taxpayers money  on a weekly basis is because there are some bills in the North Carolina Legislature who want to keep up with the technology age and do away with this expense. One of the bills wants  public notices shown electronically online this bill is called CITY/COUNTY ELECTRONIC NOTICE #472 CLICKHERE and there is also the same bill on the Senate side of the North Carolina Legislature Senate Bill #773 CLICKHERE

We have seen all over this state the local newspapers write editorials to keep this taxpayer funded money pit flowing to the local newspapers. We also had the Greensboro News and Record with help from the N.C. Press Association display a full and half page ad titled "Would you let a fox guard your hen house" CLICKHERE and it is the middle ads opposing house bill #472.

We also see a few more bills that are being considered at the state level for example

House Bill #307 Local Electronic Notice ,
 An act to allow the county of Wake and the towns of Cary, Clayton, Wendell, and Zebulon to use electronic means to provide public notice in lieu of publication.

House Bill #361 Currituck Electronic Notice,
An act to allow Currituck County to provide electronic notice of public hearings

The reason for this post was because as we see from the Greensboro News and Record Editorial titled "Help Public See Notices" CLICKHERE . They never once said how much this information is costing the taxpayers of Guilford County . After that editorial it was apparent that a public records request was in order and in the coming week we will post the pdf files on the invoices for the past year and a half in regards to the Carolina Peacemaker and the Greensboro News and Record .

As we see with the tax delinquency bill of $86,720.49 this is just one of many public notices that are costing us plenty over a years time and this could be handled in a manner on city and county web sites all over this state with parameters in place that will make the hen house more transparent and not costing us money to put in local newspapers .

Below is Part #1 of 6 documents that will be discussed this week in triadwatch in regards to this issue because it is time the local newspapers get off the government trough .

Public Notices 1 Carolina Peacemaker

Carolina Peacemaker & " The Conspiracy to Steal The 2012 Election": Rebuttal from Wes King

With permission from Wes King at PortCity Conservatives CLICKHERE

Carolina Peacemaker & " The Conspiracy to Steal the 2012 Election": A Rebuttal

Today I was in the process of putting together a video for the site and was finding more sources when I came across an editorial I wanted to look into. I read through the editorial "The Conspiracy to Steal the 2012 Election" written by Julianne Malveaux of Carolina Peacemaker. The editorial has been posted all across the country, stretching to Seattle and being hosted in prominent publications such as . Of course the piece is toted across Black News outlets and Rainbow Coalition websites, directly referring to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in the first paragraph.


The piece is addressing the issue of Voted ID which is strongly supported by 75% of the North Carolina population.

The entire editorial is full of misinformation that is intended to raise angst among those who are opponents of Voter ID. One amount of misinformation is that

The article also argues that Americans have a mobility rate of 14% (which according to the Census Bureau is generous by almost 2%) and that the black community has a mobility rate of 18%. The argument then ensues that "many do not return to the Department of Motor Vehicles to change the address on their driver’s license." Well, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles website, it is the law that you "must notify DMV within 10 days of changing your address" and that "there is no charge to change your address." So Malveaux's argument is for the benefit of those who are essentially breaking the law. Also, the DMV provides a service where they will notify the Secretary of State regarding voter registration.

The editorial continues to argue that in most cases the only forms of identification that are allowed are driver's licenses and passports. This is where Julianne clearly shows that she hasn't researched the bill but is just regurgitating information from other people who don't know what they are talking about. The North Carolina Bill would allow the use of North Car­olina driver’s license, a spe­cial DMV ID card, an iden­ti­fi­ca­tion card issued by a state or fed­eral agency, a U.S. pass­port, a gov­ern­ment employee ID card, a U.S. mil­i­tary card or a tribal iden­ti­fi­ca­tion card. If an individual couldn't afford the $20 that it costs to receive a DMV ID card, then the state would issue a Voter Identification Card, which would allow them to vote.

She continues on to argue that the implementation of Voter ID would cost millions of dollars. Regardless of the current debt to the system, in my opinion, it is 100% more valuable to reassure the American people and the North Carolina voters that the voting system is effective and credible. Any argument against Voter ID is an argument against securing the credibility of that which Thomas Paine referred to, saying "The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected."

I challenge Ms. Malveaux to have a conversation with me whereby we will address the issues of Voter ID addressing the facts rather than liberal talking points that are intended to fear-monger people into voting for the left. We can leave partisan politics out of the equation and specifically discuss this issue.

Wes King

                                            WesTKing@PortCityConservatives.com | @Kingwt