Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 13, 1994 TAG: 9407150026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In an aggressive tax-collecting effort that has raised some eyebrows, Commissioner of Revenue Marsha Compton Fielder has sent letters to landlords ordering them to cough up the names of tenants. Failing to comply is a crime, the letter notes.
Fielder said the June 20 letter is a legal attempt to catch those who haven't paid annual personal property tax on automobiles. A sizable percentage of them are renters, she said.
Her office cross-references tenant names against state motor vehicle records and lists of people who have paid the annual levy. People who haven't paid get a letter from her office, she said.
But some think the missive's tone is a bit heavy-handed.
"Failure to comply constitutes a class 4 misdemeanor," the letter states, in parentheses.
"I laughed at that line," said Ned Johnson, who owns more than 200 rental units in the city and the county. "I just thought it was ridiculous for them to say something like that to someone who in the normal course of business complies with all sorts of laws and regulations."
Candy Andrews, resident manager of Park Towne Apartments in Northwest Roanoke, said she hasn't gotten the letter yet. Beyond the tone, which "sounds a little threatening," Andrews has privacy concerns.
"Normally we would not send a listing [of tenants] to anyone," she said. "There would be an issue of confidentiality."
Fielder said the letter isn't meant to be threatening, and that's why the warning was in parentheses.
She acknowledged it's prompted a flurry of phone calls to her office from confused property managers.
A little-known state law that's been on the books since at least 1952 allows her to do it.
A summer intern from James Madison University has given her the means, Fielder said.
"We cannot afford to just sit down here and not use this tool that's been given to us through legislation," Fielder said.
The personal property tax is a major revenue source for the city. In fiscal 1994 it brought in $14.8 million, and this year the city expects to net $15.2 million. Among local levies, only the real estate tax produces more.
Although it's the first time the city has applied the law, Roanoke County has been using it with success for at least 10 years, said Commissioner of Revenue Wayne Compton. He is Fielder's father, and she was his chief assistant for a number of years.
Because Compton owns rental property in the city, he also received one of the letters.
Compton said the practice has helped him snare newcomers to Virginia who haven't registered their cars in the state, as well as Virginia residents who move to Roanoke County but haven't bothered to pay the tax as required by law.
Typically, up to 10 percent of tenants in the average apartment complex in the county are in violation of the law, he said.
A class 4 misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of up to $250. But Fielder said she doubts she'd ever try to have a landlord who didn't comply prosecuted.
Instead, "we will follow up with a second letter," she said.
by CNB