Other business:
Hall County Board of Commissioners also discussed the new look for property tax bills.
This year, property taxes will be split into two installments: one due in October and one in December.
One bill will be sent out with two attachments to include with payments.
The commissioners asked that the penalty for not paying the first installment on time be clearly displayed on the bill.
Residents who do not submit their payments on time will be subject to a 1 percent per month interest rate, the same penalty currently in place for late tax payments.
Failure to pay the second installment after 90 days will result in a 10 percent penalty.
“They can pay the whole amount right up front if they want to do that and a lot of people will,” said Scott Martin of the tax commissioner’s office.
The Hall County Board of Commissioners may have found a source of untapped revenue.
At Monday’s work session, commissioners discussed ways to ensure mobile home owners are paying their ad valorem taxes.
Commissioner Scott Gibbs said on a recent ride around his district, which includes most of North and East Hall, he saw only two mobile homes out of about 100 he looked at that had stickers showing they were current on their taxes.
“One thing that became obvious was people were not paying ad valorem taxes,” Gibbs said. “I think everyone should pay their fair share.”
Gibbs said he would like to talk with county marshals and the tax assessor’s office to brainstorm ways to improve those numbers.
“I would like to give the marshals some teeth to enforce it,” he said.
Mobile homes are taxed the same as motor vehicles. When they pay their taxes each year, mobile home owners are given a sticker which is supposed to be displayed on the home.
“Some of them hadn’t had stickers in years,” Gibbs said. “They need to penalized just like anybody who drives around with an expired tag.”
Gibbs estimates there are likely between 600 and 700 mobile homes in his district. Bringing all of those mobile home owners into compliance could be a big boost to the county’s ailing general fund.
The commission recognized that having enough manpower to go out into the county to write citations could be a challenge.
Mobile homes are often tucked away in the more rural areas of the county.
“It’s a matter of having staff in code enforcement to go out and cite them,” said Scott Martin of the tax commissioner’s office.