To withhold, or not to withhold?
Sunflower County Board of Supervisors President Glenn Donald queried what relationship garbage bills had to car tags, as the issue of whether or not county residents should be constrained from purchasing vehicle tags - until their past due garbage fees have been paid - arose again at Monday’s regular meeting.
“Tell me what does solid waste got to do with tags,” he said during the tense exchange.
The board revisited the issue after Supervisor Riley Rice requested it be placed on Monday’s agenda.
In its Aug. 28 session, the board voted 3-1 (Supervisor Dennis Holmes was opposed) to ease up on the long-time restriction and allow Mississippi Court Collections to begin collecting past due amounts from county residents.
But at Monday’s meeting, Rice wanted to rescind the previous board order.
Donald was against it and his position was that Mississippi Court Collections, a firm that has been in discussion to handle collections, hasn’t been allowed to show what they can do. The board could not agree on a forward course of action, but after a 45-minute debate was finally convinced to look at the issue again on the first Monday of November.
After the sustained discussion with no definitive conclusion, Attorney Johnny McWilliams recommended that they make a decision.
“Now, y’all need to do something, because here we are stuck with nothing now, you need to do one or the other,” he said.
McWilliams said at first he wasn’t for changing the process, but now he thinks they would do well to try the collection agency.
He said the drawn contract is effective until Dec. 31, 2019, but the county can get out at any time with a 90-day notice.
Donald was supposed to sign the contract on Monday authorizing the collection agency to begin in January, but the county has already begun allowing tags to be purchased without the past due amounts being paid.
In her monthly report, Solid Waste Clerk Clara Phillips cited a substantial decrease in past due garbage collections for September, in comparison to previous months. Donald asserted that September is historically low for collections anyway.
McWilliams said he thought the board would have started both actions at the same time because stopping the old process without implementing the new would cause collections to go way down. Rice estimates that the county is losing $5,000 to $6,000 per month based on Phillips’ past collections.
“It’s not fair to judge it yet, until they (MCC) start collecting,” Donald said.
He added that once they start, the board would see significant increases above what Phillips was collecting. He maintained that they are crippling the tag department by making people pay their garbage bill first and that Tax Assessor/Collector Cynthia Chandler has complained to the board about it. He added that tag sales have gone up though, since the change.
Donald’s motion to give the collection agency a chance failed, after his repeated attempts to get a second.
Rice’s motion to rescind the previous order and go back to the old method of having residents pay past due amounts before a tag is issued finally got a second from Supervisor Gloria Dickerson, but was ignored for a while, as Donald continued to make his plea.
Dickerson finally relented and appealed to Rice to allow Donald another chance to present more information before making a decision. Rice agreed to recall his motion but avowed his opinion was not going to change contending that withholding the tags gave the county leverage to collect overdue fees.
Phillips’ report also indicates that citizens owe the county $752,448.07 in past due money that has not been collected, likely amassed since 1994, according to McWilliams. Based on that, Donald maintained that holding a person’s tag has not and will not make them pay their bill.
Supervisor Anthony Clark, who was out due to an illness when the prior vote was conducted, questioned why the board decided to put the collections in the hands of an agency when they had praised Phillips earlier in the year for doing such a good job of collecting past due amounts. Clark said he never would have voted to change it had he been present.
Donald emphasized that Phillips was only doing her job and that all of the previous clerks collected past due amounts too.
Rice and Phillips both said county residents are calling and asking if it is true that they do not have to pay their garbage fees before they get vehicle tags and she has to explain that although they can get the tags without paying the past due amounts first, they still have to pay what they owe. Phillips said some county residents are upset because they are paying their bills but others don’t have to.
Holmes said what bothers him about the collection process is that the citizens not paying the bill will get hit with a penalty or lawsuit and wage garnishment. The collection agency will add 25 percent to the amount already owed.
Rice suggested the lawsuits were unnecessary.
“Let the record show that I disagree with it, but if you want to try it, try it,” he said.
