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Tax Commissioner
Information has been graciously provided by Tax Commissioner Nancy Denson in response to questions posed by 7th grader Cameron Smith from W. R. Coile Middle School in May 2006. |
| Electoral: |
- Non-partisan election for 4-year term (2006, 2010, 2014, ...)
- Terms for tax commissioners are four years. This is the second year of this term and will probably be the last I serve. I do not plan to seek re-election, but may run for a different office.
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| Responsibilities: |
- What I do is coordinate and supervise work of office, respond to public in person, by phone and public appearances. I also lobby for legislation to make tax laws fairer and easier to understand and comply with.
- Overseeing a county office with 22 employees and over one million-dollar budget.
- Collection and distribution of tax dollars to Athens-Clarke County, Clarke County Board of Education, State of Georgia, Winterville and Bogart; approximately $89,000,000.
- Processing tag and title applications for motor vehicles.
- Collection of delinquent taxes, approximately 10% of tax billing become delinquent.
- Levy and sale of property, when taxpayers do not pay tax.
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| Budget: |
- Overseeing a county office with 22 employees and over one million-dollar budget.
- Percentage of budget is not a relevant factor in this office since I am an agent for the state, school board and cities in county. These agencies all pay a commission for collection of their taxes, which are turned in to Athens-Clarke County. These commissions exceed the budget for the tag and tax offices.
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| Qualifications: |
- Most importantly, you must convince voters to elect you.
- Resident of county for one year prior to qualifying for election.
- Twenty-five years old.
- Although not a requirement, the Tax Commissioner should have accounting and management background and be a good communicator.
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| Time Required/ Salary: |
- This is a full time job; however, there are no set hours. I am paid to get the job done. My offices are open for business from 8:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday.
- Minimum salaries for Tax Commissioners are defined in state law based on population. For Clarke County this is $64,182.45. My current salary, which includes longevity for 22 years, is $99,999.36.
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| Top Issues: |
- Basic issues are the same for every year, as outlined in responsibilities; however last year we had a computer crash and had to re-build eighteen months of data. Because of an oversight in our computer department, there was no back up data.
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| Tidbits: |
- Twenty-seven years of local government experience. Five years on city council and twenty-two as tax commissioner.
- Highest collection rate in state. Over 99% in fiscal year for at least last ten years. 99.34% last year.
- I work out payment arrangements with citizens having financial difficulty and have never sold an owner occupied property for delinquent tax.
- All citizens treated the same in tax office, with courtesy and consideration.
- I proposed and worked for additional homestead exemption for all homeowners in county and extra tax savings for senior citizens, resulting in dramatic tax savings and keeping tax increased from causing people to loose homes.
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