WALTHALL - The company which owns a now-closed factory that went untaxed the past three years owes more than $100,000 to Webster County and the town of Mathiston, officials say.
The money is due for ad valorem tax assessments for prior years, interest and penalties on the Red Kap Industries parcel in Mathiston. The Board of Supervisors discussed the matter with Mike Sanders of Sanders and Associates and Tax Assessor-Collector Barbara Gore at Monday's recessed board meeting. Sanders is the contract property appraiser for the county.
Red Kap was not assessed for ad valorem taxes on its real property for the years 2001, 2002 and 2003, according to a copy of a letter provided by board President Casey Weeks. The letter from Chancery Clerk Russ Turner, dated Tuesday, was to be sent to Marvin Poer & Co. of Atlanta. The company handles the taxes for Red Kap, doing business as Nashville-based VF Imagewear. The apparel plant closed in March 2002.
The letter states that the property has now been assessed and the assessment has been entered on the tax rolls for those three years. The total county assessment for that period, plus interest for all three years and penalties due for the first two, is $96,418.
The letter also includes a copy of assessment receipts for the same years for ad valorem taxes now due and payable to the town of Mathiston. Figures provided by Turner, including penalties and interest, put that total amount at $19,838.
The property, according to the letter, was assessed with true values of $2.5 million for tax year 2001, when equipment was still in the building, and $1.6 million for each of the following years.
Gore, who took office in January, referred questions about the matter to Casey Weeks, president of the county board, and Lynn Lamb, former board president. The supervisors told the Progress-Times that the situation was discovered about two weeks ago. They said they did not know why Red Kap was deleted from the tax rolls but that the company has agreed it owes the back taxes, according to Sanders.
Pat Ray, who was tax assessor-collector during that period, said Tuesday when contacted: "It was apparently looked over. ... With having to oversee two offices, it's easy to overlook, and with industrial exemptions, it's hard to keep them straight." She also said she trusted Sanders and Associates "to get the roll out."
In another matter related to the operations of the county tax offices, Gore on Monday requested board approval for the purchase of a new computer system which she said should pay for itself in a year. The system should eliminate the chance for error that now exists with the hand-posting of tax payment information by entering data directly into a computer, she said, and provide for a quicker turnaround on tax settlements.
The cost of the computer system is $6,200 and two new printers were also requested; the needed software is already on hand. The board directed Gore to ask a representative of Data Systems Management to attend its first April meeting to provide more information.
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