mick silver
15th May 2010, 04:55 PM
http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Woman-still-being-billed--93609209.html ... WHAS11) Our consumer watch today is for all taxpaying Americans who hate to see government waste.
For years, Jefferson County has been taxing a dead woman for property that’s long been under water.
But as WHAS11’s Andy Treinen reports, the wheels of government are now turning in a different direction.
Debbie Linnig Michaels is the head of the investigative unit in the Jefferson County P.V.A.’s office and she prides herself on digging deep and discovering stuff.
She asked if I knew my social security number and I told her I did. She then told me there was a person who was using my social; a Randall Griffith in Lakeland, Florida.
Tracking my social security number is not in her job description, but tracking your tax dollars is.
Property Valuation Administrator, Tony Lindauer, hired Michaels to head up his investigative team.
With 10,000 returned tax bills laying around unpaid, Lindauer has made it a priority to get them paid, or to get them off the books.
One of the first priorities is to stop billing dead people.
“You deserve to die in peace. We shouldn’t be sending tax bills in your name and you shouldn’t be incurring taxes in the afterlife,†said Michaels.
Especially people who have passed and whose property is under water.
Michaels said, “McHarry Street is where that parcel was and all of it used to be land.â€
Mary Lamb has been getting a tax bill since 1905, for a property that’s been under water for years. Her house was on McHarry Street at the time, in the Portland neighborhood, but now it’s under the water of the canal at the lock and dam.
“Poor Mary Lamb can’t even rest in peace. I get visions of the sheriff out there with an envelope; trying to stuff it in to the grave and saying pay up,†said Michaels.
By the end of the year, Lindauer hopes to have all 10,000 returned tax bills off the books; books that look much better this year.
“We’re up over $25 million from what we were last year in receivables with the sheriff’s department,†said Lindauer.
Lindauer said that although the P.V.A. is a government office, he runs it like a personal business; and as a business owner, he made sure every dollar was accounted for.
And continuing to bill people like Mary Lamb is no longer in the budget.
“The cost of the paper, the envelope and the stamp, year after year after year…†said Lindauer.
This year the buck stops here.
The P.V.A.’s office also reports some good news for the Louisville housing market.
While cities like Nashville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati saw a decrease in average house prices this year of around 2%, Louisville’s housing market has remained virtually flat
For years, Jefferson County has been taxing a dead woman for property that’s long been under water.
But as WHAS11’s Andy Treinen reports, the wheels of government are now turning in a different direction.
Debbie Linnig Michaels is the head of the investigative unit in the Jefferson County P.V.A.’s office and she prides herself on digging deep and discovering stuff.
She asked if I knew my social security number and I told her I did. She then told me there was a person who was using my social; a Randall Griffith in Lakeland, Florida.
Tracking my social security number is not in her job description, but tracking your tax dollars is.
Property Valuation Administrator, Tony Lindauer, hired Michaels to head up his investigative team.
With 10,000 returned tax bills laying around unpaid, Lindauer has made it a priority to get them paid, or to get them off the books.
One of the first priorities is to stop billing dead people.
“You deserve to die in peace. We shouldn’t be sending tax bills in your name and you shouldn’t be incurring taxes in the afterlife,†said Michaels.
Especially people who have passed and whose property is under water.
Michaels said, “McHarry Street is where that parcel was and all of it used to be land.â€
Mary Lamb has been getting a tax bill since 1905, for a property that’s been under water for years. Her house was on McHarry Street at the time, in the Portland neighborhood, but now it’s under the water of the canal at the lock and dam.
“Poor Mary Lamb can’t even rest in peace. I get visions of the sheriff out there with an envelope; trying to stuff it in to the grave and saying pay up,†said Michaels.
By the end of the year, Lindauer hopes to have all 10,000 returned tax bills off the books; books that look much better this year.
“We’re up over $25 million from what we were last year in receivables with the sheriff’s department,†said Lindauer.
Lindauer said that although the P.V.A. is a government office, he runs it like a personal business; and as a business owner, he made sure every dollar was accounted for.
And continuing to bill people like Mary Lamb is no longer in the budget.
“The cost of the paper, the envelope and the stamp, year after year after year…†said Lindauer.
This year the buck stops here.
The P.V.A.’s office also reports some good news for the Louisville housing market.
While cities like Nashville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati saw a decrease in average house prices this year of around 2%, Louisville’s housing market has remained virtually flat