What is the biggest priority in the next few years for the office of tax commissioner to address?
My biggest priority will be improved electronic access by using the latest web-based tools and forms, thereby decreasing the time spent waiting in line and saving gas by minimizing the need to personally visit the tax office. I understand that many of our citizens work out of the county and that getting to the office prior to closing is a hardship. As a result, we will implement on-line transactions for as many services as possible and accept mailed transactions for others. If a transaction does require a personal visit to the office, all forms will be available on line. Citizens can print them, fill them out ahead of time and know what information to bring with them to the office.
Throughout this campaign Mr. Wingo, has repeatedly boasted that the Fayette County Tax Office sets the standard for other such offices in the Metro area. He brags about online renewals and the fact that taxpayers can use credit/debit cards to pay for ad valorem taxes. So I decided to see how high we have set the standard by looking at Cobb and Gwinnett County tax offices. I started with the web sites. Ours is bare bones, amateurish and provides very little real information. Their sites have downloadable forms and tons of pertinent information.
If you want a form, say to apply for a property tax exemption in Fayette County you must come into the office to obtain it; in Cobb and Gwinnett you can download it. In the Fayette tax office “Because documentation is required, applications must be made in person at the Tax Commissionerís Office.” But both Cobb and Gwinnett counties allow those applications to be mailed into their offices.
These are options that are easily implemented, cost effective and customer oriented.

2. Why should anybody care who gets elected as tax commissioner?
Tax commissioners in the State of Georgia are responsible for collection of real and personal property taxes. They have the power to either collect the tax from the taxpayer or (if they also serve as ex-officio sheriffs) to seize and sell the property of delinquent taxpayers. The tax commissioner in Fayette County is also an ex-officio sheriff who has the authority to levy and sell delinquent property on behalf of the sheriff in tax sales matters. The transfer of tax liens and the sale of property with attached tax liens are at the sole discretion of the Tax Commissioner.
I believe every taxpayer should be concerned that a Tax Commissioner with that type of discretion has the highest integrity possible. Some of the questions voters should be concerned about are: Do some people get special treatment because they are the tax commissionerís friend? Do some situations get handled differently because the taxpayer has offended the Tax Commissioner in some way? Given the size of our community, just how confidential is my information?

3. What makes you a better public servant than your opponent?
I have a long history of community service. For 18 years I was a Nationally Certified Interpreter for the Deaf; was the first President for the Hawaii Chapter of Interpreters for the Deaf; and taught sign language to numerous individuals.
For more than 15 years I taught Sunday School in such places as Savannah, GA; Honolulu, Hawaii; Olympia, Washington; and Fayetteville, NC.
I served 10 years as the Executive Director for the Fayette County Council on Domestic Violence, now know as the Promise Place. During this time I worked with thousands of clients and established the countyís first transitional house for battered women and their children.
I was elected to 3 terms as County Commissioner and four of those years I was on the Board of Health.
I served 2 years on the American Red Cross Advisory Board, was founder of the Fayette Business Network and am currently volunteer with Jobseekers of Peachtree City.
As a result of my volunteer efforts, I have been recognized by a number of different organizations. Such as:
1985 Army Wife of the Year at Ft Bragg, NC;
1993 Woman of the Year for the McIntosh Chapter of American Business Woman Association;
1993 Outstanding Kiwanian for Metro Fayette Kiwanis;
1997 Crusader of the Year Award for the Fayette Bar Association.
4. What will you do as tax commissioner that you think your opponent won’t or can’t do?
The most important aspect I will bring to the office is a fresh perspective. After 16 years, the incumbent has lost sight of the citizens. For example: our present tax commissioner has made no move to accept homestead exemptions or property tax exemptions via mail. To apply for these exemptions, citizens are required to come into the office. This process is especially difficult for the taxpayers working outside the county trying to arrive during office hours, standing in line is time consuming and with the rising cost of gas it is also expensive. Both Cobb and Gwinnett County already provide this service for their taxpayers.
With senior citizens being the fastest growing group in Fayette County, he has not done even the simplest things to address their changing needs. Things like large print forms and chairs for the elderly/disabled who are waiting should have already been provided.
On an annual basis, I will schedule presentations to all civic, community and senior centers to provide information about what is available, how to properly fill out the forms and how to access the services.
All three of the above suggestions cost nothing to implement and would be of great benefit to the taxpayers.
5. What should the tax commissioner do or change to make the time†spent in line a less uncomfortable experience for taxpayers?
First and foremost, I want to minimize the necessity of having to personally visit the Tax Office by expanding the use of technology. However since there will be times a visit is necessary and realizing that not everyone has access to the internet, there are a number of additional services I want to explore.
We will look into some programs that are in operation in several Metro Atlanta tag offices that reduce the wait time in the lobby and electronically direct customers to the tag office agent who can most efficiently perform the transaction. Using touch-screen terminals, the taxpayer selects a transaction. They are then seated until their ticket number is announced. Standing in a line is not necessary. Tag office agents are available in the lobby to answer questions.
Secondly, using current staff, I will create a Senior Citizen and Exemptions Advocate who will assist Senior Citizens age 62+ and eligible disabled veterans/taxpayers file for tax exemptions. We will provide easy-to-read, large print forms. We will provide an area with chairs for waiting rather than their having to stand in line. But most importantly, we will provide an area that affords them privacy while disclosing personal information that is necessary to the process.
Finally, let me address the issue I know my opponent will bring up again: voting against providing the credit/debit card utilization when he first requested it. I encourage anyone remotely interested in this issue to go to the Board of Commissioner minutes that are online. There you can read the entire story yourself.
A brief summary of the facts: on May 7, 2003 Mr. Wingo appeared before the Board of Commissioners with a resolution to allow his office to accept credit/debit cards to pay for ad valorem taxes. The resolution was poorly written, had numerous conflicting paragraphs and did not sufficiently address the question of how it would work and who would pay for it.
On page 9 of the minutes, Commissioner Frady said he felt this would be a county nightmare as far as he was concerned.
On page 12 Mr Frady again expressed concern that there might be something from a legal standpoint that could implicate the county.
Page 5 Commissioner VanLandingham stated that in Section 2 of the Resolution he was reading a conflict. He commented that in Section 3 he felt there was a conflict with Section 2.î
Page 11 [Commissioner Wells] expressed concern over the Board not having a real clear understanding of what exactly was being proposed. She said the concept was a wonderful concept. She said she wanted to make things as easy for citizens as humanly possible but from her perspective there was too many ambiguities at this point in time. She said she could not support the Resolution at this time.
On motion made by Commissioner VanLandingham, seconded by Commissioner Pfeifer to table the Resolution to allow credit/debit card payments for ad valorem taxes until such time as the verbiage was acceptable to the Board.
Chairman Dunn said the Board did not disagree with the premise but it wanted to make sure that everything was tied down with no lose ends. He felt the best way would be for Mr. Wingo to come in and sit down with the Board and go over it Mr. Wingo did not return the rest of 2003. He did not return in 2004. He did not return in 2005.
The next time the Board heard from Mr. Wingo was in 2006 when he wrote a letter to the newspaper berating the Board of Commissioners for not supporting his efforts to implement the credit card option.
On March 9, 2006 at a Board meeting Commissioner Pfeifer is recorded as saying îhe would like to make a motion to request Staff including the County Attorney to obtain proposals for a third party to handle credit card transactions for property taxes, ad valorem taxes, vehicle registration taxes and fines. He said this could include obtaining a service to do this online as well as examining the possibility of obtaining equipment that would allow citizens to do this in person from the Tax Commissionerís Office or the Clerk of the Courts Office. He said the stipulation for this was that the entire cost of this service through charges to the user shall be at no cost to the other County taxpayers and only to those using this service.
After making sure that previous questions had been clarified, On motion made by Commissioner Pfeifer, seconded by Commissioner Wells to authorize Staff and the County Attorney’s Office to draft a Resolution that would address the establishment of a third party to handle credit card transactions for property taxes, ad valorem taxes and vehicle registration taxes and fines with no cost to the general taxpayers of the County and also explore the possibility of a similar service on site. The motion carried 4-0.î
In closing, I believe my record speaks for itself. I have fairly and faithfully served the citizens of Fayette County in the past and ask for a chance to do so again.