BLYTHEVILLE -- Blytheville is considering a plan to pay the state for taxes that its trash and sanitation services have failed to pay since 2004.
The Jonesboro Sun reported that finance director John Callens, along with Mayor James Sanders, are negotiating a deal with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration to pay about $970,000 that the city owes. With penalties and interest, the city owes about $1.6 million.
The plan, which has not been finalized, would waive the penalties and reduce the accumulated interest charges by three-fourths.
The agreement would also allow the city to avoid a tax lien, which could limit Blytheville's ability to receive outside money.
Callens self-reported the failure to pay taxes after he realized that the money that residents pay for trash and sanitation services was collected by public works but never made it to the state. Callens and Sanders were in different jobs during the peak of the negligence, so pinpointing the origin of the error would be difficult.
"We don't know how it happened," Sanders told The Sun. "Whether it was oversight, it appears somehow it occurred. We were fortunate to discover it when we did and self-report it."
If the plan is approved, the city would begin a 30-month installment plan with 2.5 percent interest beginning in March.
Metro on 02/25/2015