Tax Sale
The county has compared the list of people who owe taxes from 2008 and 2009 who were not published in the paper and still have unpaid taxes. There were 35 names from 2008 and 50 from 2009. Some of the names have multiple properties. One has 8 properties with unpaid taxes. There are a total of 43 properties from 2008 and 75 from 2009 that were not published and still had unpaid taxes when the report was run. During the commission meeting several properties were identified where the taxes had been paid since the report had been run.
Since the publication in the newspaper is what triggers the bid off, the properties have yet to start the redemption period. For homestead property, this is three years from the date of publication. For non-homestead property the redemption period is two years.
Attorney General & County Treasurer
The commissioners have not heard anything back from the Attorney General about the investigation into the allegations against the Bourbon County Treasurer. Their understanding was that the Attorney General’s office would get back to them and let them know if it was going to be pursued further or not. They expected to have heard something back by now, but pointed out that with all the other things the Attorney General deals with, this might not be the highest priority.
Are the overpaid taxes being refunded?
Currently the commissioners do not have a copy of the details that Terry Sercer compiled. They only have the report which we posted here. Typically the county refunds overpayments for other types of fees if it is more than $5.
The commissioners are hesitant to request the information from Mr. Sercer until they hear back from the Attorney General. If the Attorney General is pursuing an investigation, they don’t want to have information released to the public that could compromise his efforts.
Is there any effort to pursue recovering the taxes/interest that was not charged correctly? (Under KSA 79-1703).
Not at this point, but this couldn’t be done until the Attorney General is finished with his investigation.
Is it possible to get the details of the audit report?
The details showing which properties have over paid and which properties have underpaid their interest is not something that the Commissioners currently have. The Commissioners don’t want to request this information from Mr. Sercer until they hear back from the Attorney General.
Has there been any effort to ask the Attorney General about the status?
Chairman Endicott wasn’t sure of the date, but said that within the past few weeks Terri Johnson (County Attorney) called to ask the Attorney General’s office about the status and was told that they didn’t have any record of a request for an investigation on the matter. She sent them another copy of the letter and then followed up with them. Again they did not have any record of the request. She faxed it to them and immediately called them back and they then confirmed that they had received it.
Rock Quarry
There was some discussion about how to move the registration from the former rock quarry to the new quarry and also some discussion about the blasting at the new facility.
Sewer District
John Scott is going to use his house as a distribution point for the manuals and warranty information for the grinder pumps in the new sewer district. He was concerned because the paper work said it was a 2 year warranty, but when they were deciding which pumps to buy they selected the more expensive pumps because they had a longer warranty.
There is one home where the grinder pump is coming into a basement too high and there was some discussion about how to go about getting it fixed.
Misc
At least two commissioners are going to the Neosho County rock quarry to view their operation at 9am. They will also be at the Airport Advisory meeting at 12 noon on Tuesday.
An individual asked if they were going to pave 180th street. He said there were a lot of dump trucks coming through and tearing it up.