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Four new county ordinances passed; less than .5% of taxes left uncollected A quartet of new county ordinances passed by the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners at the request of the Sheriff's Department will shortcut the process of adjudicating cases involving some misdemeanor charges. For charges of loitering or prowling, disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, and failure to display a proper house number, Wilkes County deputies may now write a ticket on the spot and the case will be handled in Magistrate Court rather than taking the comparatively lengthy course through the Superior Court system. "These are all very low-grade misdemeanors," explained Chief Deputy Mike Sisson, "and the ordinances will save money in the long run." Cases would be handled more simply by the Magistrate judge and the change would also take part of the load off the Superior Court system. Sisson explained the that the reasoning behind requiring a uniform system for house numbers involves a definite need for sheriff's deputies or EMS responders to have a way to quickly identify intended destinations. He said in many cases a response is needed quickly and if a house is not properly marked by number, deputies or EMTs may waste time unnecessarily looking up and down the road for an address with which they are not familiar. For example, if a long driveway leads to multiple houses, even if house numbers are displayed at the road or on mailboxes, there is no way to identify individual houses if they are not numbered as well. That leaves responders helpless once they enter the drive or pass the mailboxes. Another example mentioned was mobile home parks where the density of units is high and finding a particular home might be confusing. County Attorney Charles LeGette pointed out that the ordinance provided that residents would be issued a warning first, before any charges were made. Wilkes County Tax Commissioner Mary Hubbard presented her annual report on tax collections and delinquent taxes for the past seven years and asked that delinquencies for the 1999 tax year be written off because the statute of limitations was up. A list of 14 delinquencies for 1999 totalling $3,480.55 in uncollected taxes plus an additional $3,121.38 in penalties, interest, and costs comprised the write-off with old tax bills ranging from just $24.22 up to $2,018.73. However, the write-off amounted to less than a tenth of one percent of the total taxes for that year. Hubbard also reported on the status of collections for 2000-2005 with delinquent percentages and amounts as follows: 2000 ....... .09% ..........$23,707.20 2001 ....... .23% ............ 10,659.92 2002 ....... .12% .............. 6,149.39 2003 ....... .20% ............ 10,509.61 2004 ....... .46% ............ 23,733.95 2005 ..... 1.54% ............ 84,299.79 Total ....... .47% ........ $139,059.86 She reported that collections are proceeding normally and introduced Rick Baxter, president of Appalachian Mountain Services, the collection agency employed by the county. All of the Wilkes County commissioners were in attendance for the regular monthly meeting held last Thursday, August 10, at 2 p.m. in the board room at the courthouse. They are Divenski Lee, J.M. Sherrer, Chairman Sam Moore, Donna Hardy, and Jerry Stover. Also attending were County Administrator David Tyler, Jenna Bunch, LeGette, and a number of visitors and department representatives. In other business, the commissioners handles the following items. Tax relief was granted to Garland Darricott for a mobile home which was not a part of property he purchased in 2005. An ongoing problem with issuing mobile home citations was discussed and information was presented but no action was taken pending further study. Moore reported an update on the Local Assistance Road Program (LARP) and said that plans had included work on Flat Rock Road "but we ran out of money." He said Scull Shoals Road is also in very bad condition and suggested that other road could be added to the list of needs not that we have money to do anything about it at this time." Stover asked that Mallorysville Road be added and Moore suggested that West Road, which had been heavily damaged by big trucks working on Highway 44 recently, also be added. Hardy asked about the parking lot and street behind the courthouse but Moore said that would fall under the city's LARP, not the county's.
A Phase I preapplication for the
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