Bill gives Mecklenburg property owners time to pay back taxes

A bill by state Sen. Jeff Tarte would give Mecklenburg County property owners who owe more than $1,000 in back property taxes from 2011 to 2014 five years to pay the debt off – without interest.

Under Tarte’s bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday and is headed for the N.C. House, those property owners would pay monthly installments for five years. If they missed a payment, the owed amount would become immediately due with interest, Tarte said.

Tuesday, Mecklenburg commissioners voted 7-1 to oppose parts of Tarte’s bill and to urge him to raise the back-tax threshold to more than $1,500 and lower the pay-back time to two years – charging a current interest rate of about 9 percent.

“There was a consensus that property owners should get some time to pay back taxes, but that two years was a reasonable period of time,” said commissioner Dumont Clarke, the board’s vice chair who offered the compromise motion. “Five years is too long.”

Tarte said he’s sticking to the five years, but is “amenable” to raising the limit to $1,500 and will likely tell House members next week before the bill is considered there.

“We screwed up and it’s completely unfair to put the burden on the backs of the taxpayers,” Tarte said.

Republican commissioner Jim Puckett cast the dissenting vote, saying property owners ought to get at least four years to pay back taxes and not be charged any interest.

Puckett said he’s heard from constituents who live in moderately valued houses and are suddenly facing large tax bills and can’t afford to make “a large one-time make-up payment.”

He emailed Tarte on Wednesday, saying his bill would help – but didn’t go far enough.

“The county made a mistake and is saying, ‘We were wrong, we need more,’” he said in an interview. “The burden should be on the county not the taxpayer when it comes to fixing a county mistake. Unfortunately, there are consequences to making a mistake. I believe we ought to give these folks enough time – 48 to 60 months – to pay their back taxes, but with zero interest.”

Puckett, who owns an industrial painting company, said that when a business makes a mistake it has to live with the consequences. “I don’t get a look-back to see if I charged my customers enough to cover my expenses,” he said. “If I failed to charge the correct amount I have to live with the mistake.”

Government, he said, should have “no greater freedom from a mistake than I.”

After hearing from the county and Puckett, Tarte amended his bill to include no interest but kept the five-year payment schedule.

The revaluation review was ordered after thousands of property owners complained about inflated values across the county. The law required the county to refund those billed for over-valued properties – but also send tax bills to the under-valued.

Originally property owners had to pay bills by Jan. 6, but the state extended that deadline by a year to January 2016.

Tarte is the former Cornelius mayor who helped write the bill requiring the county to review all 356,000 parcels.

Since his bill became law, he has been the lead legislator fixing the “unfair” parts that included sticking property owners with back taxes during years they didn’t own the property. Tarte also wrote a bill that provides an option for property owners who receive refunds of less than $14.99 to either apply it to their next tax bill, or drive to the tax assessor’s office to collect the refund.

This story was originally published April 22, 2015 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Bill gives Mecklenburg property owners time to pay back taxes."