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.

N.C. Rep. Jeff Collins Touts N.C. Press Taxpayer Giveaway as Good Business Model

If you want to get a great laugh for the day check out what N.C. Rep. Jeff Collins had to say in the Rocky Mount Telegram about Public Notices in paper CLICKHERE .

I quote
"“I'm not sure how changes would affect newspapers. I'm worried about the small weekly papers. They have good business models because they've been around a long time. I want to know what will happen to those newspapers.”

To give a little background of what is happening in North Carolina we are trying to pass some new laws to upgrade the way we get in touch with people all over this state which is the internet . The N.C. Press Association wants us to still stay in the dark and also pay out the wazoo as taxpayers to the dying newspaper .

In regards to small town newspapers like the Jamestown News and others they are telling us that if we quit providing the papers with this subsidy in state mandated using only the newspaper of choice for public notices we will have to shut down the paper.

As we see from other parts of state we have a state legislator telling us that they have a good business model because they have been around a long time. What horse honkey BS is this ? The business model has been take these state mandated public notice money sit back do nothing like selling your paper and live off the taxpayers because that is what I am seeing. Plenty of newspapers all over this state and country know that this is coming and with more education as to the millions spent by the taxpayers to keep these newspapers afloat it is time the N.C. Press Association to provide a different business model not the one on the backs of the Taxpayers all over this state.

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