99-003
Response February 10, 1999
REQUEST LETTER
99‑003
Dear Mr. McKeown:
Please accept this letter as a formal request for your
consideration in providing me with an
advisory opinion concerning a question I have with one
aspect of the real property tax collection
process.
Question: Can I, as the COUNT County Treasurer,
interpret 59-2-1331 through 59-2-1332.5,
when it reads concerning printing a delinquent list
and having that list published in a newspaper of
general circulation, to mean....
"After
the November 30th deadline
has passed, I may collect property
taxes with penalty from property owners who did not pay on time and credit
these payments. I may then delete these properties off the delinquent list and
not publish them in the newspaper."
Background:
Many counties have adopted this interpretation for years, without intervention
from any state agency. One basic argument for this approach is that the
publication of delinquent taxes is to satisfy the "right to
notification" if a property owner is unaware they are delinquent. We plan
on adopting this practice in December of 1999, and I believe it warrants being
addressed by you as a commission. State statute basically is summarized as
follows:
59-2-1331(1)(a).
...all taxes...unpaid or postmarked after November 30th
of each year...are delinquent...the county treasurer shall close the treasurer=s office...until a delinquent list has been prepared.
59-2-1331(2):
...all delinquent taxes on each separately assessed
parcel are subject to a penalty of 2% of the amount of the taxes or $10,
whichever is greater...
59-2-~332.5(l)(a):
...on or before December 31st , the county
treasurer shall publish the delinquent list in one issue of a newspaper having
general circulation.
Regarding property owners, those that pay will not
have their names publicized, and those that
don't pay receive their right to notification by
having their names printed in the newspaper.
Treasurers benefit because it lessens the financial
cost of publishing a delinquent list, increases
cash flow to taxing entities and may even foster less
antagonism with the public. It does however,
create a second artificial date, when taxes paid with
a penalty, are due. This date is somewhat
driven by the date the newspaper requires the list to
be delivered to them so as to have the
delinquent list published by the newspaper on or
before December 31st
Each county treasurer has adopted a practice concerning
this matter and their perspectives are
probably also valuable in examining this issue. May I
propose the following:
Proposal: "All taxes that are unpaid or postmarked after
November 30th of each year are delinquent and the county treasurer shall close the
Treasurer's office until a delinquent list has been prepared. All delinquent
taxes on each separately assessed parcel are subject to a penalty of 2% of the
amount of the taxes or $10, whichever is greater. A county treasurer may
receipt a full current year tax payment with the appropriate penalty between
December 1 and December 31, and delete the parcel from the delinquent list.
whatever parcels remain unpaid are deemed delinquent and shall be included on
the delinquent list to be delivered to the company that shall publish the
delinquent list in one issue of a newspaper having general circulation on or
before December 31st."
Your timely response would be most appreciated. If you
have any questions please contact me at
#####.
Sincerely,
NAME
TITLE
RESPONSE
LETTER
February 10, 1999
RE: Advisory
Opinion - Property Tax Delinquency List
Dear NAME,
We have received your request for an advisory opinion
concerning your plan to adopt a new practice in your county when publishing the
delinquency list as required under Utah Code Ann. '59-2-1332.5.
Currently, you publish the names of all delinquent taxpayers, even those
taxpayers who have paid their delinquent taxes and the resulting penalty prior
to the publication of the delinquent list.
You propose a new practice where you remove from the delinquency list
before it is published the names of all taxpayers who have paid their
delinquent taxes and the resulting penalty prior to the publication date.
You are correct in your analysis that Utah Code Ann. '59-2-1331 requires that a delinquent list be prepared
that contains all taxpayers who do not timely pay their taxes and that a
penalty be assessed to all on the list.
You are also correct that Section 59-2-1332.5 requires the delinquent
list to be published on or before December 31st. However, the statute is silent as to whether you must publish the
original delinquent list or if you may revise that list as delinquencies are
paid and publish instead the revised list.
The statute does not forbid the publication of the
original list, and any county that chooses to publish the original list may do
so. However, the purpose of the list is
to give delinquent taxpayers notice prior to the delinquent property being Asold@ to the
county. If a revised list is published,
the notice intended by the statute is satisfied. There would appear to be no reason to include the names of
delinquent taxpayers who are not delinquent at the time of publication. For these reasons and because the statute
does not specifically require the original list to be published, a revised list
may instead be published if it contains a list of all delinquent taxpayers and
properties that are still delinquent at the time of publication. Such a publication would also meet the
statutory requirements of Section 59-2-1332.5.
Accordingly, both your current practice and proposed
practice concerning the publication of the delinquent list are appropriate
under the current statutes. Both
practices ensure the publication of a delinquent list on or prior to December
31st that gives notice to those taxpayers whose taxes remain delinquent.
Please contact us if you have any other
questions.
For the Commission,
Joe B. Pacheco, CPA
Commissioner
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