PAMLICO COUNTY - Property taxes for 2008 on more than 1200 parcels – totaling $473,384 – remain unpaid, according to a comprehensive list compiled by Pamlico County Tax Administrator Kathryn Tyndall.
Each year, the county commissioners authorize public release of the document, which is longer than in recent years due in large part to the ongoing recession. In fact, county officials have pledged to “work with” all those who may have difficulty in making ends meet.
Tyndall advises those who may see their names to call her office in order to make payment arrangements. Unpaid taxes range from a low of $5.31 to a high of $26,404.59.
Click Here to 2008 ADVERTISING LIST FOR PAMLICO COUNTY TAX OFFICE
Officially known as tax liens, the amounts listed must be paid before a property can be sold or otherwise transferred.
Also, in a notice accompanying the roster, property owners are cautioned that the “property may be foreclosed by the taxing unit and the property sold to satisfy the taxing unit’s claim for taxes.”
The list always makes interesting reading. In perusing names, some familiar and some not, two aphorisms come to mind: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Or, “Misery loves company.”
Those in the former category might even chuckle a bit at several of the names. See if you can spot a well-known federal judge, or perhaps a prominent builder once mentioned within the pages of a national magazine.
For those seeking commiseration, surely the alphabetical order will help to quickly spotlight one or more neighbors. There’s plenty of malaise to spread around, not the least bit diluted by the financial hot water that threatens to burn many of us in today’s economy.
Alert readers will spot several thorns in the side of any Tax Administrator worth his, or her salt. Those, of course, are the ne’er do wells found on just about every delinquent roster throughout this land – the infamous ‘unknown taxpayer.’ One or more culprits may find themselves so labeled. Whether officials can ever track them down, remains to be seen.
Alas, most of us have either been fingered or temporarily exonerated – at least until next year when a new list will appear. Hopefully by then, that dark thundercloud of a recession will have been completely banished from the lovely skies of Pamlico County.
