In the dispute between DeSoto County and its cities and town of Walls against the county’s Tax Collector, the parties continue to agree to disagree, but taxes will continue to be collected for the time being.
An injunction has been issued by Judge Albert Smith of 11th Judicial District that was agreed to by all parties, which basically means the status quo must continue through the litigation between the county and the municipalities about Treadway’s salary.
In March of last year, Treadway came to the Board of Supervisors and said he could no longer collect taxes for the municipalities unless his salary was significantly increased. In January, the compensation discussions continued as Treadway was seeking to come out of retirement and receive a salary amounting to about $235,000 annually, to collect the municipal taxes as well as the county taxes, a practice that has been done for several years.
Tax Collectors are required to collect ad valorem taxes for DeSoto County, but they don’t have to collect for the cities. Through interlocal agreements with Southaven, Hernando, Horn Lake, Olive Branch, and Walls, the Tax Collector collects their city taxes and is compensated for doing that.
Because the agreements are between government entities, and not with Treadway specifically, he says he has the right to set how much they should pay him, and refuse to collect taxes for the cities if it is not enough. Cities can hire their own tax collector to do it for them, but by paying a fee to the county, Treadway’s office does that for them.
In Smith’s order, interlocal agreements between the municipalities and Treadway must continue, so while the issue is being settled, Treadway will continue to collect local taxes.
The order to continue comes in response to a lawsuit filed in April by the mayors seeking to keep Treadway fulfilling their interlocal agreements.
Judge Smith from the 11th Judicial District is hearing the case after the judges in the 23rd District covering DeSoto County stepped away and recused themselves.
