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Council hears plan to reinstate DMV holds after staff identifies $4.5M in delinquent personal property accounts
Summary
City billing staff told council they identified about 6,000 residents with roughly $4.5 million in outstanding personal property bills and plan to reimplement DMV registration holds and new SOPs to improve collections; council asked for a DMV policy for review and to explore intercepting state tax refunds.
City billing and collections staff presented to the Petersburg City Council on May 5 that they have identified approximately 6,000 residents with outstanding personal property tax accounts totaling about $4,500,000 and are preparing to reimplement Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) registration holds as a collections tool.
The billing controller (identified in the meeting as Lacey) described recent coordination with the city's ERP vendor, Brighton Associates (BAI), and said the team has begun outreach that already produced several resident calls seeking to resolve balances. Staff told the council the mass upload history dates back to July 24, 2023, and noted some accounts will require abatements or adjustments when taxpayers have moved.
Council members pressed staff about gaps in prior years when DMV stops were not used. Councilman Covert said the record showed no DMV stops in multiple years and asked whether council ever directed a pause. Mr. Altman, who answered for administration, said he did not recall a council directive to stop DMV holds and attributed part of the lapse to staffing turnover; he said administration will document and standardize the policy moving forward.
Council directed staff to deliver a DMV-specific protocol for review within weeks. Council also asked staff to address whether the city can redirect state income tax refunds to satisfy delinquent personal property taxes. Staff said state law contains a mechanism to ‘‘receive’’ funds in limited circumstances and that the commissioner of the revenue will need to work with the city to determine whether and how such a process could be implemented; staff agreed to include guidance on refund intercepts in the protocol.
The council’s next step: staff will provide a written DMV-authorization procedure for council review and continue coordination with the commissioner of the revenue and outside collection partners. The presentation and discussion concluded with council support for rapid implementation of near-term collection tools while staff develops a broader standard operating procedure for tax collections.
Speakers quoted or referenced above appear in the council’s work-session record; the city did not provide a full implementation timetable in the meeting for all recommended steps.
