Richmond owed $39M in delinquent taxes, fines

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Richmond officials are stepping up efforts to collect delinquent taxes and fines totaling more than $39 million.

A recent report says there were 162,130 delinquent accounts as of January. They include more than $19 million in personal property taxes and about $16 million in real estate taxes.

Richmond spokesman Mike Wallace tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/ZwozBj ) that the city and two collection agencies it hired are working to collect the delinquent accounts. He says city officials believe many of these accounts will be collected.

An audit released last year criticized the city's Finance Department for uncollected personal property taxes. And, residents were upset when the city mailed out thousands of incorrectly inflated personal property tax bills.

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com