… I just hate to open the newspaper. Because I hate to see Norfolk in the headlines again, for something else that has been done wrong.
This time, it’s the Treasurer’s office. The problem: delinquent real estate tax collections.
The city has a huge backlog of seriously delinquent properties, due to lax collection practices and an outdated tax sale system.
Hundreds of homeowners and land owners haven’t paid property taxes in years – some in decades, leaving the city out of $13 million that could ease budget problems.
As of mid-April, Norfolk had more than 900 parcels with taxes at least three years overdue. Of those, almost 300 were 10 years past due. In comparison, Chesapeake had 34 properties on its 10-year list, and Portsmouth 14.
When Norfolk is behind Portsmouth, you know we’re in deep doo doo.
“The process we’ve been using is not the way to go anymore, perhaps,” said Wendy Petchel , the real estate supervisor in the city treasurer’s office. “It’s a procedure that was working in the beginning. Now we have to question whether this is working.”
Ya think?
The article lays out a quite convoluted process that none of the other Hampton Roads localities are using. They are being aggressive in collecting past due real estate taxes. After having culled their property rolls of worthless land, the other cities move quickly to sell properties. Not Norfolk.
The city moves to sell property from the list only after a potential buyer makes an offer, triggering a legal process that ends with a sale on the courthouse steps.
[…]
If no one expresses interest in the property, a parcel can sit dormant on the list for years as taxes continue to accrue.
It’s no wonder, then, that Norfolk has four times the number of properties sitting in limbo than any other city in Hampton Roads.
I tell you – it’s embarrassing to see this kind of stuff in the newspaper, day after day. It’s time for Norfolk to clean house, starting with the elimination of the offices of the Treasurer and the Commissioner of the Revenue. We already pay for a large portion of the operation of these offices, yet they fall under no one’s jurisdiction. Change the charter, eliminate these two offices, and bring the functions under the Department of Finance.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
It is embarrassing.
If the charter is changed, do we have to wait for the next election cycle to clean house?
People have been asking if I enjoy the recent goings on at City Hall. I wish that I was, I also wish, even more, that I was surprised by them.
The steps, as I understand them (see link) are:
1. A petition signed by 20% of the voters who participated in the last presidential election.
2. A referendum on the ballot.
3. A request to the GA for a charter change.
So if, say, the referendum were on the ballot in Nov 2011, the city could request a charter change from the General Assembly in 2012.
So do all three steps have to be completed for a charter change or any one of the three?
All 3 – and in that order.
“more than 20 years past due on its real estate tax bills. The tab had grown to nearly $22,000”
Are you freakin’ kidding me?!?!! I know it may be a little work to slap a lien on a property and may not happen immediately but TWENTY YEARS?!?! OVER 20K?!?!?!
There is no excuse at all for this. No wonder the city is having to cut services, etc.
None of this should come as a surprise. Stuff that I spoke of in my campaign 5 years ago is coming home to roost.
Right on point Vivian. Note also that in the comments on PilotOnline, one reader asked where the city website was that listed these tax sale properties. Answer? There is no such site. Finding the properties on the tax sale list is almost as difficult a task as the city seems to have collecting it. Go to the City Treasurer’s page, no such list. Only a name and number for the 2 attorneys who handle their sales. Then you might go to F. Sullivan Callahan’s (one of the attorneys) website … click on the link in the homepage and you get an error … so then you have to try again on the link at the bottom of the page … there you get an Excel spreadsheet … with virtually no details except address, assessed value and taxes dues … no dates, no details .. you’re on your own to investigate from there. Any wonder buyers stay away from Norfolk??
20% of voters from the last presidential election? Yeah, right
Yeah, it’s a high hurdle. Approximately 18,000 signatures would be required. And if I read the code properly, it has to be done in 90 days. Doable – especially if the signature collection process started on E-day in November – but still daunting.
Embarrassing, hell it’s down right shamefull!
Instead of changing the charter, how about holding those responsible accountable for their lack of action!
How would you do that? Remove them from office?
Oh, Norfolk. The Athens of Hampton Roads.