Legislative Meeting

Was nice to see those who attended this weeks legislative review in Jefferson City.

On Tuesday 1st and 2nd class counties met for a round table discussion of items of interest and possible solutions to the problems.

We discussed the issue that emerged last week with the Department of Revenue. (We later heard from Director Trish Vincent on Wednesday).

We discussed phone calls we get from Land America representatives who are obviously from a foreign country, are difficult to understand, ask a ton of questions, and often call more than once about the same property. Ruthane Small (Johnson) will be making contact with Land America to see if there is something that can be done to remedy the situation. Among the solutions discussed were handling tax amount items via email or fax, or demanding they use our websites (if you have one) to look up tax amounts on their own.

Discussion Moderator Pam Shipley (Cass) voiced concern about communication and action regarding getting updates done on the websites of those who use Official Payments, Inc as their online collection company.

Pam asked how many used official payments for any purpose whether on-line or for credit card purposes and will be asking that Official Payments schedule a user meeting where those of you who use their company can get together and talk about the future. I understand if you're interested in using Official Payments, Inc. that you would be welcomed at the meeting as well. To be clear however, the meeting is designed for current users, not necessarily as a means of increasing participation from any county not currently with them.

We heard that most of us scratch are heads regarding enforcement of Merchant Licenses, how to increase the numbers of them, and what to do if someone is billed and refuses to pay. Some make trips through the county for spot checks, others receive lists of new businesses from their municipalities and chambers of commerce.

Christopher Williams (Jackson) talked about steps he takes to make efforts to contact owners of potential tax sale eligible properties and told us he and his assessor use assessor office staff to physically visit each tax sale property and take a digital picture of notice being posted that the property will be offered for auction due to delinquent taxes. That obviously made most of us gasp, however many of us have pending lawsuits that stem from arguments as to whether or not we (or tax sale buyers) went far enough in making sure an owner had been duly notified. Chris indicated he believed it may be time to look at tax sale statutes for possible revisions.

Thanks to Pam for organizing the meeting on Tuesday and before adjourning we informally decided to have our next one in an exotic, warm, tropical climate at a location that has umbrellas in their refreshments.