New Law lets municipalities use tax refunds to pay for unpaid bills

HOUSTON, Miss. (WCBI) – Cities and towns throughout Mississippi will soon be able to garnish state income tax refunds to collect certain debts.

Houston City Clerk Lisa Easley and her staff help keep track of day to day business at City Hall.

Part of their duties involves collecting payments for services such as water.

Until recently, when an overdue water bill went unpaid, there wasn’t much the city could do.

“It they don’t pay, then you and I are paying,” said Easley.

But a new law passed during the recent legislative session, allows cities and counties to garnish state income tax refunds for debts or fines of $50 or more.

The law says cities and counties wanting to collect an overdue bill can contact the Mississippi Department of Revenue, and submit the debt owed for collection.

Written notice will be sent to the debtor to garnish all or part of their state income tax refund.

Easley says the law not only allows cities to collect overdue revenue, but also helps taxpayers and others who pay their bills on time.

“The main thing is it helps us keep from having to raise taxes and now it’s not just the city of Houston and infrastructure everywhere, if you travel anywhere, which I’m sure you do, roads, bridges in this state need repair, and that’s one of our focuses now trying to get our streets done, overall it helps us keep from having to tax individuals and that’s our main goal,” said Easley.

The legislation was pushed by the Mississippi Municipal League, who had heard from plenty of cities and towns about the problems they had collecting unpaid bills and fines.

“Any money that we can bring in like this , is going to help deter any expense that comes up, whether it’s repair to water system, or repair to sewer system, it can be used.”

Easley encourages anyone who knows they have an unpaid bill to contact their city or county offices, and make payment arrangements before garnishment proceedings are started.

Along with the debt, a 25% collection assistance fee will also be assessed.