Anonymous cash payment raises new questions about Ramey taxes
A campaign sign for Haywood County Commissioner Terry Ramey on Russ Avenue contains a reference to who paid for it.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
An anonymous payment recently applied to decades-old tax bills owed by a sitting Haywood County commissioner presents the appearance of impropriety and may violate campaign finance law and the Board of Commissioners’ ethics policy.
Substantial questions about the payment remain, but at least one thing is certain — the long drama surrounding Commissioner Terry Ramey’s unpaid taxes is not settled.
“The $2,000 payment is clearly a gift that benefits Ramey. For his own good as a public official, I’d suggest that he direct the tax office to send the anonymous payment to the county’s general fund and remove any application of the $2,000 toward his personal tax liability,” said Bob Hall, former executive director of Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan voting-rights organization. “Otherwise, the public could wonder if the donor might someday privately approach Ramey and want a returned favor for the gift. That’s not a good situation to be in — for him or for the public.”
Years ago, Hall helped lead a broad coalition — including the conservative John Locke Foundation and nonpartisan Common Cause NC — that advocated for and won North Carolina’s first comprehensive ethics law covering state officials, as well as stronger laws to regulate lobbyists. In 2006, Hall received the 2006 William C. Lassiter First Amendment Award from the North Carolina Press Association for his efforts.
The Smoky Mountain News has confirmed that multiple complaints about the anonymous tax payment have been forwarded to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
The typical process is that the NCSBE will conduct a preliminary review and, if necessary, a further investigation. Findings are presented to the full board, which in a public meeting makes a determination that could include civil penalties or a criminal referral. The State Bureau of Investigation typically only gets involved in the event of a criminal referral and would ultimately conduct a full investigation, forwarding the case to the district attorney for prosecution if warranted.
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Cash
The drama began before Ramey was elected in November 2022. SMN found that Ramey, a retired wrecker operator, hadn’t paid his taxes in quite some time.
Ramey then lied about the money owed, drawing a rebuke from other commissioners. Although he entered into a payment agreement to clear his current delinquencies, the county cannot enforce collection actions on taxes older than 10 years — but the taxes are still tracked, still accrue interest, are still owed and can be satisfied with voluntary payments.
On Jan. 24, The Waynesville Mountaineer reported that an anonymous payment for Ramey’s past due taxes was placed in a drop box outside the historic Haywood County Courthouse on Jan. 23. Tax collector Sebastian Cothran said he checked the box around 8 a.m. that morning, but it was empty. When he returned around 9:30 a.m., he found the payment.
As Ramey’s debts were subject to two different interest rates, the amount he owed changed every month. The anonymous payment, however, was correct down to the penny — $2,107.16. The only person who had recently inquired about the exact amount Ramey owed, according to Cothran, was a Mountaineer reporter, on Jan. 21.
The envelope containing the payment, which was made in cash, was marked “Friends of Terry Ramey.” Cothran said he destroyed the envelope — a public record — and that no other correspondence or instructions were included inside.
Tax Collector Sebastian Cothran said he discovered the anonymous cash payment in the drop box outside the historic Haywood Courthouse. Cory Vaillancourt photo
The Haywood County Tax Collector’s web page states in all caps, “NO CASH SHOULD BE LEFT IN DROPBOX.” The tax payment drop box itself, positioned prominently outside the main entrance to the historic Haywood County Courthouse, also states in all caps, “NO CASH.” The website further explains that cash payments can be accepted in the tax collector’s office.
On Jan 30, SMN obtained security camera footage from the courthouse, pointing directly at the drop box. The camera, county officials explained, is motion activated. It’s also glitchy or improperly configured; earlier in the morning, Cothran can be seen materializing out of nowhere at the drop box and walks away empty-handed after checking it. Cothran never appears in the video again, nor does any person ever appear at the drop box in the video.
The politically sensitive nature of a cash payment involving the debts of an elected official during a heated Republican Primary Election — debts Cothran was long familiar with — didn’t exactly give Cothran pause; he said a worker in his office applied the payment to Ramey’s delinquent tax bills.
Friends
Ramey’s official campaign committee is called “Committee to Elect Ramey for Commissioner,” per a statement of organization on file at the Haywood County Board of Elections. That the payment was made by “Friends of Terry Ramey” raises a potential campaign finance issue.
Some of Ramey’s large campaign signs bear the tag, “Paid for by Friends of Terry Ramey.”
As of Jan. 28, there was no statement of organization on file at the Haywood County Board of Elections for “Friends of Terry Ramey.” if “Friends of Terry Ramey” is a legitimate PAC or campaign entity, as listed on campaign signs, the tax payment violated North Carolina campaign finance law, which states campaign funds may not be used for a candidate’s personal expenses. Personal expenses explicitly include debts or obligations that would exist regardless of the campaign. Unpaid personal property taxes fall into that category; they are not campaign-related, not incidental to campaigning and not incurred as a result of holding or running for office.
If “Friends of Terry Ramey” is not a legitimate PAC or campaign entity, it may have violated different campaign finance laws by paying for the signs and failing to register with the Haywood Board of Elections.
Per NCGS 163-278.12 (a), “In the event an individual, person, or other entity making independent expenditures but not otherwise required to report them makes independent expenditures in excess of one hundred dollars ($100.00), that individual, person, or entity shall file a statement of such independent expenditure with the appropriate board of elections in the manner prescribed by the State Board of Elections.”
Shortly after he was elected, Terry Ramey signed a payment agreement acknowledging his delinquencies. File photo
That puts the “Friends of Terry Ramey” in a precarious position. According to the same statute, “Contributions or independent expenditures required to be reported under this section shall be reported within 30 days after they exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00) or 10 days before an election the contributions or independent expenditures affect, whichever occurs earlier.”
That gives the “Friends” group until roughly Feb. 21 to file a statement of organization and report the sign expenditures, as well as the tax payment. Doing so could raise further questions for whomever signs on as the chair and treasurer of the committee.
Appearances
Furthermore, NCGS 160A-86 requires local governments to adopt an ethics policy, which Haywood County most recently did in 2010. Based on the policy, Ramey’s acceptance of a third-party tax payment appears to conflict with the county’s ethical standards, even apart from any criminal or campaign finance analysis.
The policy emphasizes that commissioners “should act with integrity and independence from improper influence” and should remain “incorruptible and unaffected by improper influence” while exercising their duties.
A third party paying a personal financial obligation of a sitting commissioner creates a reasonable appearance of compromised independence, regardless of whether improper influence can be proven.
The policy defines impropriety using an objective standard, stating that the Board of Commissioners “will consider impropriety in terms of whether a reasonable person who is aware of all of the relevant facts and circumstances surrounding the commissioner’s action would conclude that the action was inappropriate.”
Under that standard, a reasonable person aware that a sitting commissioner’s tax liability was satisfied by an outside party could plausibly view the action as inappropriate.
The policy further advises that when actions “may be misunderstood,” a commissioner “should seek the advice of the county attorney and should consider publicly disclosing the facts of the situation and the steps taken to resolve it.”
County Attorney Frank Queen said that the ethics policy calls for a consultation between a potentially conflicted commissioner and the county attorney and that a county attorney generally cannot comment on whether they had a conversation with or offered advice to a commissioner.
Ramey’s failure to proactively seek guidance or disclose the circumstances would further weigh toward an ethics violation under the board’s own policy, which prioritizes public trust and the avoidance of even the appearance of impropriety. Ramey did not respond to an inquiry from SMN about any consultation with the county attorney.
Ramey has maintained that he did not owe the taxes and told the Mountaineer “I did not want it [the payment] done.”
Ramey’s stubborn insistence has either fed or been fed by his “friends.” Ramey ally Sherry Morgan told commissioners Jan. 20 that “he has paid his real estate taxes on time for more than 50 years.” Definitely not. Shortly after the anonymous payment, conservative blogger LeRoy Cossette implored, “enough already about Ramey and his non-existent unpaid property taxes.”
The proof that Morgan’s and Cossette’s claims are not based in reality comes from Ramey’s own hand — the repayment agreement he signed in 2022 for his unpaid taxes, totaling more than $2,100. The agreement states that “The undersigned Haywood County property taxpayer acknowledges an obligation to pay the delinquent taxes set forth upon the tax bill(s) attached (Exhibit A).”
Further proof debunking Cossette’s claim is self-evident in that the anonymous payment for Ramey’s unpaid taxes was accepted without a second thought by Cothran on Jan. 25.
Throughout the three-year ordeal, Ramey had not raised the argument publicly, until last week in the Mountaineer story. Ramey apparently didn’t agree with the county’s valuation of a truck for which he was being taxed, so he didn’t pay the tax.
That’s not quite how it works.
“Typically, once you get a valuation, you’ve got 30 days from the date of that notice to appeal, and that goes to an informal level. The [tax] assessor makes a decision as to whether or not that value is going to remain in place,” said Judy Hickman, Haywood County’s tax assessor. “If they’re not satisfied with what the assessor has, they can appeal to the board of equalization and review, and then they can go to the property tax commission.”
Hickman wasn’t the tax assessor when the taxes were assessed, so she can’t recall if Ramey ever availed himself of the process. Regardless, the tax bills remained in place.
“Once the tax bill’s out there, the burden falls on the taxpayer,” Hickman said.
What has been settled once and for all — unless the anonymous payment is returned — is not the dispute over Ramey’s taxes, but the fact that Ramey never paid them.
“Well, better late than never,” said Sybil Mann, chair of the Haywood County Democratic Party. “It is a sad commentary that he never paid it himself like any other Haywood County resident. And, he wants to be a leader in our county?”
