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Newspaper error falsely labels hundreds as delinquent taxpayers Newspaper error falsely labels hundreds as delinquent taxpayersBy MELISSA BURNSED MACCLENNY, FL - More than 360 businesses and individuals in Baker County have been falsely labeled as delinquent taxpayers, because of an error by The Baker County Standard. The newspaper printed a test list working file, rather than the final correct list, according to Baker County Tax Collector Gene Harvey. "The final correct list was delivered in plenty of time to meet the weekly publications deadline. In a nutshell, we sent them the test list of all those that hadn’t paid several weeks in advance of the actually print date, before the deadline for tax payment. That is done so that the listing can be properly formatted. Then once the payment deadline has past we send the final correct list. The Standard mistakenly advertised the test instead. We delivered the information according to contracted specifications and they were the ones who made the error," said Mr. Harvey.
He added, "I want to really apologize to all those taxpayers who paid their taxes on time and were then mistakenly advertised as delinquent. We do everything we can to prevent things like this from happening, but we can’t control other people’s mistakes." The Baker County Tax Collectors Office compiles the listings, which are then delivered for publication. The tax rolls are published to notify the public of the impending sale of tax certificates so the county can collect the unpaid property taxes. Newspapers submit competitive bids for the publication rights, with the lowest bidder winning the contract. Among the names of those listed as having unpaid property taxes are numerous prominent Baker County community leaders and business people, Baker County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Darryl Register, Farm Bureau Agent Jack Baker and his real estate partner Moody Lee, car salesman Danny Lamb, and Building Contractor Rock Rhoden. Businesses included Adrian Development, which just won approval to invest millions in the community through their Cedar Creek project, the Crockett Building owners and local telephone company NEFCOM. Mike Griffis, who is the general manager for NEFCOM along with serving as a member of the board of county commissioners commented, "We talked to our corporate offices and explained the situation. They understand it was a mistake by the newspaper and that they will be printing a retraction. We had a check and paid our taxes before the deadline. We are okay and don’t think this will be a detriment to our business." Mr. Harvey stated that the newspaper will be printing a retraction statement which will be at the top of the corrected delinquent rolls. In the statement the names of all those who had been improperly listed as having unpaid taxes will be included.
Then she went on to elaborate. "Those taxes were due April 1st and it was our error. The tax people are perfectly happy with how we are handling it," she said. One person who is not happy to have been falsely labeled publically as a delinquent taxpayer was local businessman Moody Lee. "I have already told Mrs. Smallwood what I felt about it. It is a bad situation that absolutely has affected a lot of important people in this community. They listed me as delinquent and they better list my name as having paid my taxes on time," said Lee. Smallwood said, "If anybody wants to make an issue about it, well I guess that’s their prerogative." The Baker County Standard is a small, weekly newspaper owned by a group of more than 20 stockholders, including well-known Jacksonville area businessman W.W. Gay, realtor Thomas R. Rhoden, Richard "Dicky" Davis, Pastor David Crawford, and retired, long-time school administrators, former Baker County school superintendent Tim Starling and Dr. Ronnie Kirkland. For more information and a video check out the story on First Coast News http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=109639
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