Councilman to pay thousands in back taxes
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on December 1, 2016 9:57 AM
Goldsboro Councilman Antonio Williams has agreed to pay down thousands of dollars in back taxes to avoid the foreclosure of his Center Street property.
Williams and Akeata Moore, owners of the 143 N. Center St. building, agreed in late October to pay the debt in full by April 1 through monthly payments, said attorney Helen Baddour, Wayne County's foreclosure attorney with the Baddour, Parker, Hine and Hale law firm.
"They're going to be trying to pay it off," Baddour said. "I put him on the payment plan. They are willing to make the amount of payments each month that would allow them to redeem the property by April 1, 2017."
Williams and Moore owe $2,877 in unpaid property taxes and interest, between $900 to $1,000 in legal fees and another $464 in 2016 property taxes that are due by Jan. 5.
To date, Williams and Moore have paid $1,200 toward the debt, said Vicky Granillo, Wayne County Tax Department collection division manager.
Williams declined to talk about his delinquent property taxes, which span multiple years dating back to 2011, and are owed to the city of Goldsboro, Goldsboro's downtown special district and Wayne County.
The near $4,300 debt will have to be paid in full by April before the county ends its foreclosure pursuit.
"This just isn't for him," said Baddour, who handles multiple county foreclosure proceedings throughout the year. "We put people on payment plans frequently. I'm treating him like I do anybody else."
Even though an agreement has been reached, Baddour will continue with the legal process. She plans to file a motion for summary judgment in Wayne County District Court, on Dec. 13., that would be followed by a judge's order allowing the foreclosure sale.
"Then, we won't do anything," Baddour said. "We'll just wait to see if they're making payments."
The action is an effort to have court documents in place, in case the county still needs to move forward with the foreclosure sale.
Williams and Moore have started making payments, with the first $200 paid to the tax office on Nov. 12 and a second payment of $1,000 on Nov. 22, Granillo said.
The couple purchased the Center Street building in 2007 and paid property taxes each year until early 2012. The county tax department started working to collect the delinquent taxes in 2014, a process that involved trying to garnish wages and a bank levy, Granillo said.
Collection staff were unsuccessful in trying to garnish wages after an employer couldn't be found. A bank levy pursuit also fell through after they couldn't find a bank account.
After exhausting different collection methods, the tax department sent the property owners a 30-day warning letter. The letter served as the official notice that the property was headed to foreclosure.
The county's foreclosure attorney started the process on Sept. 27, with the initial filing of a court complaint in Wayne County District Court.
Civil summons records show that sheriffs were charged with serving Williams at the Center Street address and Moore at a Burlington, Mass., address.
By mid-October, Williams said he was completely unaware of the court action and possible foreclosure. At the time, neither had received the civil summons.
After an interview with the Goldsboro News-Argus, Williams and Moore went to Baddour's office and signed an acceptance of service letter and received the court complaint. Within days, they agreed to make payments on the debt.
Even if the debt is paid and the foreclosure process stops, the Center Street property will still have a lien.
Dorothy Sellers, a Currituck County woman, will remain a lienholder due to a 2015 court judgment requiring Williams pay Sellers more than $36,000 for an unpaid personal loan.
Sellers and her husband, Percy, loaned Williams the money to buy the Center Street building, in 2007, for $35,000. He made payments for a couple years but stopped in 2010, which resulted in the Sellers taking the issue to court.
The 2015 court order has not resulted in Sellers receiving any of the $36,432 owed, she said.
She only recently learned about the court order after being notified of the Center Street property foreclosure case. She is discussing her options with an attorney.