Certified mail

I gained a few more gray hairs last week when I stopped by my mailbox after work to find a notice saying I had to sign for mail from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department.

Since the carrier was still out delivering mail, I had to wait to go into the post office to sign for the certified mail.

As a parent, my first thought was to wonder if either of my children happened to get picked up going too fast on traffic camera or had an unpaid parking ticket and they were sending the ticket to me since the car is registered in my name.

Then I got to wondering when this possibly could have happened or even where Fulton County is. For the record there are eight Fulton Counties in the United States — the nearest is in west-central Illinois about a 6 hour drive from Medford. Neither of my kids were around to ask about this so I had to wait.

Things became even murkier when I signed for the letter and found it to be an “Import Tax Notice” from Fulton County, Georgia which includes the city of Atlanta.

Opening it, the letter is to inform me that I owe $174,394.11 in unpaid property taxes from the calendar years of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The 8.73 acre parcel is located at O Cleveland Ave. SE in Atlanta, Ga.

The letter was sent to inform me that if I don’t pay the full amount, the property will be sold on March 4 on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse.

For those doing the math, the tax bill comes out to just under $34,900 per year. Based on the published tax rate for the city of Atlanta, this would put the assessed value of the parcel at about $3 million. Since assessed values are routiney below market values, a good real estate agent could probaly get a lot more for it from the right buyer.

For the record, other than spending a week there for a conference in 2019, I have never lived in Georgia let alone have ever been the owner of a $3 million 8.73 acre parcel there.

As this point, I called the number on the certified letter and after it ringing 23 times, looked it up online to find that the office closes at 4 p.m. eastern time and that I would need to call back in the morning.

With time to kill, I did some searching online and found that according to the online tax information that address appears to be an Atlanta City Park. Sweet. I have always wanted my own park. But even better, a parcel that size in a city like Atlanta would be prime to be lotted off and sold to people with more money than sense. I began to fantasize about going down to the bank and getting a loan to cover the unpaid taxes and then find a Realtor to sell it for me at a cut rate price of $2 million.

Heck, even after paying off the loan I would clear $1.5 million. Alternatively, in Georgia if the property sells at higher than the amount owed, the listed owner gets the difference.

So really I could just wait and file the paperwork in March and let Fulton County do the work for me. While this route has its appeal, I have an inherent lack of faith in any bureaucracy that decides some random guy 1,000 miles away owes a pile of property taxes on a city park. At least if I hire a sleazy developer and bulldoze the playground equipment myself, I know it will be done correctly and not end up with some contractor from Albuquerque sending me a bill in three years.

In the end, I decided to take the more honest route, figuring that my soul could use all the help it can get, and on Friday morning, I called the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office Property Tax Unit to let them know that they had the wrong Brian Wilson. They asked if I knew anything about some developer based in Stratham County, Georgia to see if I was connected to the parcel that way. Surprise, I am not.

The very nice woman with a strong southern accent said that they must just have the wrong Brian Wilson and that I should ignore the letter.

While being told to ignore a $174,393.11 bill is inherently a good feeling, a small part of me is vested in wanting to know the history and future of this parcel.

I feel a road trip may be necessary to satisfy this curiosity.

Brian Wilson is News Editor at The Star News. Contact Brian at BrianWilson@centralwinews.com.