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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: September 20, 2005 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 5 - e. <br />SUBJECT: Contract for Leaal Services -Collection of Delinquent Real Prooertv Taxes <br />DEPARTMENT: Revenue PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Contract Ja Roberson, ext 2727 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To consider approving a contract far legal services that will supplement the <br />County's ability to pursue effective collection of real property delinquencies as provided by <br />North Carolina law, <br />BACKGROUND: As one approach to pursuing more timely and effective collection of seriously <br />delinquent real property taxes, staff and the County Attorney have discussed a pilot project to <br />retain the services of an outside attorney to initiate foreclosure proceedings on a case-by-case <br />basis as determined by the Revenue Director, The County Attorney would continue to handle <br />certain more complicated foreclosure proceedings on behalf of the County, For less complex <br />foreclosure cases, staff propose that the Board approve the accompanying agreement with <br />Attorney Cyrus Hogue of Hillsborough. There is no direct cost to the County through this <br />arrangement as Mr, Hogue would earn his fees based an awards made through the Clerk of <br />Court's Office for any foreclosed properties, <br />Each year the Revenue Department is charged with the collection of all ad valorem property tax <br />due to Orange County and its municipalities. There continues to be growth in the property tax <br />billings each year of approximately 1800 registered motor vehicles and approximately 500 real <br />property land parcels . Currently, Revenue is handling approximately 93,000 Registered Motor <br />Vehicle billings and 45,000 regular property tax billings annually. Additionally, Revenue handles <br />8,300 Business and Individual personal property billings, <br />As these numbers continue to grow, there are additional bills becoming delinquent each year, <br />The added burden of this growth in collections requires staff to seek additional approaches to <br />maximize collections. Each year staff are finding additional properties that for various reasons <br />are uncollectable by all other means but foreclosure, Properties are worked using all methods <br />available to the Tax Collector prior to reaching the foreclosure stage, <br />