GATESVILLE – The names of Gates County property owners that are delinquent in paying their taxes since 2000 will be published.

Gates County Tax Collector Renee McGinnis made that announcement recently during a meeting of the county’s Board of Commissioners.

Traditionally, the annual publishing of the county’s delinquent taxpayers is limited to the most recent tax year (in this case, that would be 2010).

However, at the March 2 meeting of the board, Commissioner Johnny Hora asked if there was a state statute requiring older tax liens to be published as part of the newer list of names.

“There are a handful of counties that do so as a collection tool,” McGinnis answered at that meeting.

At that time, McGinnis said she would check on the costs associated with expanding the number of pages for the tax listings (printed in a tabloid format and inserted annually into the Gates County Index) to include the names of delinquent taxpayers dating back to 2000.

“We will not have a problem advertising all delinquent taxes on all real property,” McGinnis said at the meeting held in late March. “It will be published in the paper in April.”

Commissioner Jack Owens said he wanted to make sure that the expanded listings were very specific.

“It will be broken down by year,” McGinnis noted. “It will include the taxpayer’s name, a description of the property, the year the taxes are owed and the amount that is owed. If someone owes taxes for each of the ten years, there will be a separate listing for each.”

In another tax related issue, McGinnis said there was a need to schedule another date for the commissioners to convene as the Board of Equalization and Review. Currently, they are scheduled to do so on April 26; first with a one-hour (1-2 p.m.) workshop given by a representative of the North Carolina Department of Revenue and then taking appointments from 2:30-3:45 p.m.

“We need another date; it may be good to schedule for the late afternoon and go into the evening hours to make it easier on our citizens,” McGinnis suggested.

She added that, as of late March, six property owners have asked to be heard by the Board of Equalization and Review at their April 26 meeting.

“And we haven’t officially advertised it as of yet,” McGinnis observed.

The commissioners agreed to add Monday, May 2 (4-7 p.m.) as a date and time to convene again as the Board of Equalization and Review.