Tillatoba Man Levies Allegations Against County For Bill Collection Practice

Tillatoba Man Levies Allegations Against County For Bill Collection Practice

By  David Howell

Editor

WATER VALLEY – A Tillatoba man argued that a five year-old garbage bill assessed to his mother is not fair because his family had no record for the $1,000-plus in delinquent bills accumulated from his family’s rental houses until a recent letter from the county.

Speaking at the “first Monday” board meeting in Water Valley, Mark Hartley told supervisors that everybody in the county should pay their garbage bill, but it was unfair to charge his family for a five year-old bill that is owned by renters. Hartley also noted that he already paid the bill and the purpose of the visit was to question if the bill is fair.

“The problem is that y’all went back five years. I don’t know if it has been five years since y’all voted this law in,” Hartley argued, referring to the practice of holding land owners accountable for garbage bills owed for rental houses. 

“It has always been the (state) law, the landowner and the user-generator is responsible,” Board Attor-ney John Crow answered as the 20-minute exchange got underway. “The Mississippi Legislature did that.”

“I only saw it in the paper here a while back,” Hartley countered, referring to the county policy to notify landowners that they are responsible for delinquent bills owed for rental property.  “What I am saying is that nobody had notified my mother that she was going to have to go back five years,” he continued. 

Hartley also questioned the county’s policy to charge all residents for garbage service, adding “I have some gullies over there just as good as Waste Manage-ment’s gullies,” referring to the company hired to collect and dispose of the county’s garbage.

“We are being blackmailed by Yalobusha County. If we don’t pay it, we are not going to be able to buy a tag in Yalobusha County. There is some blackmailing going on and I don’t like it,” Hartley continued.

“Have you said your piece, Mr. Hartley?” Board President Cayce Washington asked after Hartley continued to voice his concern with the county’s garbage policy.

“Yes,” Hartley answered.

Washington first noted the hearing did not start at the scheduled time of 9 a.m. and the county employee responsible for handling garbage accounts had left prior to the hearing that got underway at 10 a.m. after Hartley was late.

Washington then addressed the length of time Hartley questioned about the bill.

“I agree that is not a pretty thing to go back five years. That is a tough pill to swallows. But I think we can agree a bill just doesn’t go away,” Washington continued before taking full responsibility for leading the push to collect delinquent garbage bills since taking office in January.

Washington also told Hartley he understands the policy of holding a landowner responsible for the garbage bill for a rental house is sticky.

“A lot of time renters come in and run out and owe bills. It’s not the best way to do business, quite honestly, but it is the business that we have to do because our hand is forced by the state,” Washington also said. 

“You mentioned you have a garbage dump on your property. If you can get a permit from DEQ for your property, then we will stop hauling you garbage.  But without a permit, we are required by law to pick up your garbage. It is my mission, while I am serving on this board, is to clean up this delinquent garbage list,” Washington continued.

Crow spoke next, explaining state law requires the county to provide curbside garbage pickup. He also explained if the county allows roadside dumps, the county can be fined up to $25,000 per day.

“I went on and paid the bill. What I want y’all to understand that if my mother or myself had known about this bill, I would not have waited until the bill had gone through the roof before we did anything. We would have taken care of it a long time ago,” Hartley reiterated. “I feel like Yalobusha County should have warned us five years ago that this was getting out of hand.”

“I can’t control what happened five years ago,” Washington answered.

“These folks were your renters, right?” Crow asked.

“My mother’s renters, yes,” Hartley answered.

“They were paying her money, right?” Crow answered.

“Sometimes. Sometimes it was charity,” Hartley answered.

Crow also addressed the blackmail allegations made by Hartley.

“You said blackmail, now I resent that because we are told what to do by the State of Mississippi. We don’t have a choice,” Crow explained, citing the 1981 law requiring the county to pick up garbage. Crow also said the county’s notification to rental property owners about their liability for tenant’s garbage bill was actually going the extra mile to inform them of the state statute.

“I don’t think there is going to be any changes,” Washington added as discussion on the matter came to a close.

Hartley then read the collection letter in the meeting, pointing to what he perceived as blackmail when it stated that the county could take civil action against him including assessment court and legal fees.

“If that is not blackmail, I don’t know what is,” Hartley said.

“No sir, that is not blackmail. We are on the verge of adding fines and late fees on these. As bad as that is, it could have been worse. I want these people to hurt if they are not paying their bills.

“Is this all that I owe?” Hartley asked.

“To the best of my knowledge,” Washington said, adding that he should monitor the garbage accounts for his rental property.

Hartley again reminded supervisors that his 86 year-old mother was not previously aware she owed the bill.

“She has always paid her bills and this is about to kill her right now because y’all have sent her a bunch of paperwork that said she owed a bunch of money and slapped on a bunch of attorney fees and court fees… I can’t believe y’all are treating my mother like this,” Hartley said.

“Mr. Hartley, she is a landowner. I don’t care who the landowner is, I am sending the bill to the landowner,” Washington said.

As a matter of record, Crow noted after the discussion that no attorney or court fees have been assessed to Hartley’s account. He also noted that the county’s garbage department official had left the meeting because Hartley was late and only one side of the story was told during the meeting.

“It is all legitimate debt. He had notice of it at least three years ago,” Crow concluded.