Knox County interim Trustee Craig Leuthold said his office took
in just over $244.9 million so far from early July, when the fiscal year began,
to Feb. 28 when taxes are due before penalties kick in.
The amount, Leuthold noted, incudes current taxes,
delinquent collections and interest on the delinquent collections.
Of the $7.1 million in additional collections, about $1.2
million of it is from delinquent accounts.
“I attribute this to the employees working hard, and going
out, especially our delinquent side,” Leuthold said. “The collections
department was out there hustling.”
Tax season runs from October through February.
Percentagewise, collections are up 93.59 percent compared to
92.07 percent this time last year.
Leuthold is up for election this year and faces Knox County
Commissioner Ed Shouse and former
Trustee’s Office worker Barry Hawkins in May’s
Republican Primary. The winner will take on James Berrier, a Democrat, in the
August general election.
Tune in to WBIR 10News on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. to catch catch the Republican
candidates debate the issues and answer questions on “Inside Tennessee.”
What kind of number is 93.59? I ask this in all seriousness. How does this stack up historically? How does it stack up against other municipalities? How much money is in that last 6.41%, by that I mean does the collection rate reflect total revenue, total taxpayers, total parcels of taxable property or what?
ReplyDeleteIt's good stuff here, but it raises as well as answers questions.
Percentagewise, it seems every year that it increases, ever so slightly as does - for the most part - the overall amount taken in. Delinquent taxes jumped quit a bit when office had its own staff attorney going after them, but there's only so much you can collect before the well dries up on that.
ReplyDeleteWithout checking, I'd suspect that the collection numbers are pretty good compared to other counties and probably on part with comparable areas.
Also, the 93.59 is just a number in time. It will change next week and next month, depending on how collections go. It makes sense, tho, to look at in comparison to Feb. 28.