Haywood Commissioners decide on tax collector issue

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Haywood Commissioners decide on tax collector issue

The rift between Haywood County commissioners and the last remaining elected tax collector in North Carolina — Mike Matthews — got a little deeper Feb. 20 when commissioners passed a resolution calling for an end to the practice of electing the position.

In a unanimous vote, commissioners decided to ask the Haywood County legislative delegation to sponsor legislation allowing the county to join the other 99 counties in the state that appoint their tax collector.

It wasn’t supposed to be about politics, parties or personalities, but the resolution has been hard to separate from Matthews, who has been under fire since before he defeated longtime incumbent David Francis in the November 2014 election.

Francis, a Democrat, lost narrowly to the upstart Republican Matthews, whose personal behavior, financial history and professional qualifications left many feeling that he wasn’t suited for the job.

Upon taking office, Matthews and commissioners clashed over a variety of issues, from his absenteeism to reduced collections performance.

The situation, however, came to a head last November, when the county began an independent investigation into a workplace complaint involving Matthews.

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The complaint — which Commissioner Mike Sorrells said could have “cost taxpayers a lot of money if it had been true” — was not substantiated in the investigation that was conducted by an Asheville attorney. However, a host of further allegations did arise as a result of the probe. Those could have played a part in the decision to press forward with the change, which was first proposed on Feb. 6.

Commissioners seemed ready to vote that day, but newly elected Republican Brandon Rogers said he wanted the public to have more time to speak on the issue, and on Feb. 20 that’s just what he got.

Although the Historic Haywood County Courthouse wasn’t filled to capacity that night, it certainly contained several times the amount of people that usually show up for any other regularly scheduled commission meetings. The public comment session lasted slightly more than 45 minutes.

Of the 17 speakers, eight of them gave various reasons why they thought that the position should be elected.

“It should be removed from partisan election,” said retired attorney Bob Clark. “There’s a reason 99 of 100 counties have done it.”

Others thought the appointment of the tax collector would allow commissioners to have more control over the position and enforce measures to make sure that collections were being handled in the best possible manner. One person even brought a petition with more than 100 signatures supporting appointment.

Some just didn’t see it that way, however. Six speakers expressed the sentiment that the position should remain elected, including political activist and former Waynesville mayoral candidate Jonnie Cure, who said that the tax collector should serve at the pleasure of the people, not at the pleasure of the board of commissioners. Cure has been a supporter of Matthews’ run for office and even paid his candidate-filing fee at the elections office.

Paul Yeager said he thought the elected tax collector was doing “an excellent job” and added, “I don’t really care what they do in 99 other counties or why they do it. I live here in Haywood County.”

A few speakers didn’t take a clear position on the issue of the elected versus appointed issue, but instead expressed personal support for Matthews. In one particularly heartfelt testimonial, Elmer Silvers said Matthews was a good man who saves people’s homes.

After County Manager Ira Dove again thoroughly and methodically laid out the case for the resolution the question was finally put to commissioners, who’d waited two weeks — or two decades, depending on who you ask — to answer it.

Commissioner Sorrells became animated and looked upset as he refuted the allegations of several speakers who had come before the board earlier.

He defended the $20,000 investigation into the complaint against Matthews.

“The complaint was a pretty serious complaint. Everybody’s scared to death to talk about it but it was a pretty serious complaint,” Sorrells said. “If we hadn’t investigated it and it turned out to potentially be truthful, you, the taxpayers, would have paid for it — a big amount.”

A report summarizing the findings of the investigation conducted by attorney Missy Spainhour of Asheville has not been made public, despite repeated requests by The Smoky Mountain News. A copy was leaked to The Mountaineer newspaper before a story containing excerpts from it was published Feb. 10.

Sorrells went on to take exception to statements that suggested commissioners upset with the election results had attempted to undermine Matthews from the start.

Commissioners Kevin Ensley and Bill Upton reiterated their previously stated positions in favor of appointment, but Commissioner Rogers — who wasn’t yet a commissioner when the investigation into Matthews began — had never before weighed in on the issue.

He did with his vote, and joined every other commissioner in voting for the resolution, which seeks to terminate the position once Matthews’ term is up in December 2018 and appoint — basically, hire — his successor.

Kirkpatrick also stressed that Matthews’ predecessor David Francis wouldn’t accept the position even if commissioners appointed him, which Commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick said would not happen. Francis was appointed tax administrator upon Matthews’ election to help oversee the tax office, but detractors claim Francis was retained to circumvent the results of the election that ousted him.

Referendum coming

Before any of that takes place, the resolution passed by commissioners must gain the approval of the local legislative delegation, of which Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, is the dean. He’s joined in that group by Rep. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, and Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville.

Davis — reached for comment on the issue a few days prior to Feb. 20 vote — explained that after a conversation with Clampitt and Presnell, they all agreed that if commissioners asked for a change, he would sponsor legislation in the Senate that would put the issue to voters.

“I’m in favor of letting the voters of Haywood County decide,” Davis said, adding that both Clampitt and Presnell were on board with the referendum idea.

Right before casting his vote, Rogers announced Davis’ position to those assembled, setting the stage for a battle over the issue in the coming year.

After the meeting, Matthews said he continues to see the issue from both sides.

When asked if he thought commissioners did the right thing by passing the resolution, he said that “one or two” commissioners looked at the issue with the same balance Matthews himself had, but the rest were motivated by personal reasons.

In the end, he said, “it still takes away that power from the voter.”

“There’s some merit to that,” Kirkpatrick said during the meeting. “But the people that make the decision on that appointment are people you elect as well, so there is a controlling factor there as to our removal or our election every four years.”

Commissioners explain their votes

The resolution asking state legislators to change Haywood County’s elected tax collector to an appointed position passed unanimously Feb. 20, with each commissioner giving various reasons during the proceedings for their vote in favor of the resolution.

“The year that we had the two tax collectors had been the highest — according to the North Carolina Treasurer’s office — the highest at 97.54 percent [collection rate], and now we’ve dropped to 97.28 percent while the rest of the state and counties of like size have gone up three-tenths of a percent.”

— Kevin Ensley

“This is something that has been thought about for a long period of time, and it should have been done. There’s people here that know we should have made this an appointed position years ago.”

— Kirk Kirkpatrick

“We need to have somebody in that position that is responsible to us. In return, if the folks are not happy with that, then they can look at us five [commissioners].”

— Brandon Rogers

“The other thing that this is all about is the integrity of the office. There have been things that have been going on in that office that we are privy to and the public should be privy to because it’s public knowledge.”

— Mike Sorrells

“We depend on the tax collector’s office to bring money in. Any money that’s not brought in results in other people paying higher rates.”

— Bill Upton

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