Last week at the Surry County Board of Commissioners meeting county tax administrator Penny Harrison presented the board with a list of foreclosure requests.
She was seeking approval to forward the list of tax delinquencies to the Kaina Law Firm, which handles foreclosure matters for the county.
Harrison explained that the list held accounts that were past due to the county for a period of more than five years, “There are several delinquent accounts that need to be sold to be returned on the tax scrolls to citizens that can pay the taxes.”
“The Kaina Law Firm may collect the taxes without doing foreclosure by forbearance agreements,” she explained. Under such an agreement, the lender may agree to reduce or suspend the mortgage payment due for a period of time and agree to not further pursue foreclosure.
However, if the law firm is not able to collect Harrison said officials there will notify all parties in a variety of methods from posted signs, certified mail, and advertisement that a foreclosure said will be conducted.
Chair Van Tucker stated the board needed to take action “in order for us to get started and to be able to collect these delinquent taxes. They usually get really serious on your (Harrison’s) radar, and it doesn’t rise to this level until there has been about five years of delinquent taxes.”
He noted that after 10 years, the county can no longer go back and attempt to collect delinquent taxes.
Harrison concurred and said her office works diligently to make contact and work with the delinquent party. “We send several notices, we call them, we try to make payments with them, we send pre-foreclosure letters and we do numerous things trying to work out anything possible before we have to foreclose,” she said.
“All those things have been executed and you sent the certified letters and called them and spoke to some of them personally to try to make arrangement for payment but after five years you have had no payments from the parties on this list?” Tucker confirmed.
Commissioner Larry Johnson clarified that only after a period of due diligence on the part of Kaina Law Firm to collect the taxes would the properties be sold as part of foreclosure.
Tucker added, “These will be turned over but then there will still be an opportunity after they have served notice to these individuals to stop the foreclosure?”
“Yes, they can pay at any time,” she confirmed. “They can pay up to the time that the sale is finalized.”
Johnson had questions about the process and asked how long on average after turning the list over is resolution expected.
Harrison said that a number of things could affect the process. “It there is heir’s property, it takes a while to serve... it’s just different circumstances. It could sometime take up to 12 months, it’s just according to the situation.”
The foreclosure list contains 17 properties, all of which can be found on the Kaina Law Firm website: kanialawfirm.com/tax-foreclosures/foreclosure-listings. From the main page search ‘Surry’ and the most recent listing begin on page three with a listing on Grateful Way in Pilot Mountain.
Also found are two foreclosure requests to satisfy delinquent taxes on personal property listings, three are for EMS fees, and one is for solid waste fees.
Commissioner Bill Goins moved to accept the list and send it to the Kaina Law Firm and Commission Eddie Harris seconded; the matter passed unanimously.
In other county news:
- Surry County offices will be closed on Thursday, July 4, for Independence Day.
- The board of commissioners approved last week an amendment for capital improvements at the Mount Airy / Surry County Airport. County Manager Chris Knopf explained the over $700,000 was to be used for hanger apron rehabilitation.
The amendment was a technical procedure he said. “This is basically just adding some additional grant funding that’s coming in from NCDOT. There is no local money as part of the amendment.”
- Similarly, the board approved a capital project ordinance for renovations to Mount Airy High School’s Career and Technical Education building.
“This is where the school system will be using lottery funds to cover some overage there,” Knopf said of the $185,519 the board approved. “Again, no local money — that will be lottery funds only.”
- Election season continues and with filing windows for municipal offices and the Soil and Water Conservation District approaching.
Filing opens for residents seeking public office in the towns of Dobson, Elkin, and Pilot Mountain at 12 p.m. on Friday, July 5. The filing window remains open for a fortnight closing on Friday, July 19 at 12 p.m.
As one window opens another one will be closing. The period of filing for the Soil and Water Conservation District, ongoing now, will end Friday, July 5 at 12 p.m.
Following these dates, the slate of candidates for the Falls election will be set and the next date of note is not until Sept. 6 when absentee voting for the General Election begins.
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