SANATOGA PA – A new solicitor is scheduled to be added Jan. 6 (2011) to the roster of people working on behalf of Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, as it becomes more aggressive next year in collecting back taxes and other money it is owed.
No, nothing’s happened to long-time township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway or his job, he’ll happily tell you. However, the township plans to bring in added legal help in going after thousands of dollars that remain uncollected for everything from delinquent property and local earned income taxes to unpaid trash fees.
The Board of Commissioners has advertised, as recently as Dec. 22 (2010), its intent to appoint attorney Michelle R. Portnoff of Portnoff Law Associates Ltd. in Norristown PA as its solicitor “for the limited purpose of collecting delinquent real estate taxes and municipal claims.” Portnoff’s firm specializes in collections for more than 70 municipalities, school districts, and other taxing entities, according to its website.
The township pays Holloway and his Pottstown PA firm, Wells Hoffman Holloway and Stauffer LLP, directly for their services and legal counsel. Not so for Portnoff, whose legal fees – along with costs, collection fees, penalties for delinquency, and accumulated interest on unpaid amounts – are added to the sums to be collected. The result: delinquent payers themselves cover the expense of having someone chase them down.
To make that possible, commissioners expect to repeal a May 2009 law that previously set attorneys’ fees for outside collections, and replace it with a new law detailing how the process will operate and specifically naming Portnoff as their collection agent.
“It is in the best interest of all taxpayers and other residents to have vigorous enforcement of all delinquent and other unpaid charges,” according to Lower Pottsgrove’s advertisement, which appeared in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, its publication of record for legal notices. It also proclaims Portnoff’s fees “are reasonable in amount for the services” she and her firm will provide.
The new law contains a provision that previously was not part of the collection process, Holloway said during the board’s Dec. 6 (2010) meeting. It allows the township and Portnoff to consider limiting or dismissing some fees in “cases of serious hardship” demonstrated by debtors. Hardship applications will be reviewed only “on a case-by-case basis pursuant to uniform policies,” the law specifies.
A complete copy of the proposed law is available for review at the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd. Pottstown.
Related:
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Dec. 6):
- Township Plans To Get Tougher With Debtors In 2011
- Board Says New Building Permit Report ‘Tells Us More’
- Change Date Or Return Money Choice A No-Brainer
- Township, School District Settle Assessment Dispute
- Township Settles Today On Newest Open Space Purchase
- Even With 2011 Transfer, Township Cash Cushion At $1.7M
- Slowing Down In Sanatoga Proposed As A ‘Groovy’ Idea
- With Keim Bridge Out, Signal Coming In To Lower Pottsgrove
- Township OKs New Fire Police Law, Approves Members
- Township, Moyer Estate Settle Late Treasurer’s Accounts
- Commissioners Meet Tonight, With A Busy Agenda
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[...] Township Plans To Get Tougher With Debtors In 2011 Lower Pottsgrove is bringing on added legal help to pursue those who owe it money for back taxes and other municipal claims. [...]
[...] PA – Changes previously announced regarding Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township’s move to be more aggressive in collecting delinquent taxes, and to make a clerical amendment to its non-uniformed employees’ pension plan, both are [...]