Alamance County approves write-off of 2015 delinquent taxes and authorizes 2025 order of collection

Alamance County tax collector and Executive Director Brad Flower told the Board of Commissioners on Aug. 4 that the county collected about 99.21% of its 2024 levy and asked the board to approve charging off remaining 2015 delinquent taxes and to authorize the 2025 order of collection.

Flower said the county’s reported total levy for 2024 was $112,000,003.53, with $902,002.74 remaining uncollected and an overall collection rate of 99.21%. She noted that DMV tag-and-tax collections are handled by the state and reported a separate collection rate of 99.64% for that program. Flower said the county’s five-year average collection rate is 98.98% and that this year’s rate is the highest she could find in 25 years of records she reviewed.

The request to charge off the remaining 2015 balances totaled $49,392.72 as of June 30; Flower told the board those 2015 balances will become unenforceable after Sept. 1, 2025 under the statutory 10-year limit on enforced collection. She described operational changes that contributed to improved collections, including individual development plans (IDPs) for staff, system upgrades to process bank attachments at higher volume, expanded use of wage attachments and running attachments twice annually. Flower said running attachments twice a year cost roughly $6,000 but produced about $150,000 in additional collections.

Commissioners voted to approve the request to charge off the 2015 uncollectible taxes and to grant the tax collector the authority to proceed with the 2025 order of collection. There was no roll-call vote presented in the meeting transcript; the clerk recorded the motion, a second and the board voice vote of “aye.”

Flower recognized staff members she credited with the performance improvements, including Cindy Miller, who recently retired, and Kathy Tyler, named the new supervisor of collections.

The tax collector’s report also compared Alamance County’s collection performance with five peer counties (Catawba, Davidson, Pitt, Rowan and Iredell) and noted an apples-to-apples adjustment to remove “gap billing” (late vehicle registration collections) when benchmarking other counties.

The board’s formal approval authorizes the tax collector to levy and seize real or personal property as allowed by law in pursuit of collectible 2025 taxes and to charge off the specified 2015 balances before they become unenforceable on Sept. 1, 2025.