Bobo Catoe, a Coahoma County resident who has land behind the old Kroger on Highway 61 in Clarksdale, has been overcharged in taxes since 1994 and came to the Coahoma County Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, Dec. 3, seeking a refund.
Catoe came with his attorney, Mike Chaffin, who was the Board of Supervisors attorney several years back.
Coahoma County’s last annexation came in 1993 and there was a computer issue, at the time.
“Somehow or another, a parcel of 39 acres was generated that wasn’t actually there,” said board of supervisors president Paul Pearson. “Mr. Catoe was paying the taxes on 39 acres that didn’t exist.”
A parcel of land is an extended area of land. Catoe was paying taxes on two parcels at the same time.
“What happened was there was one 39 parcel that got identified somehow and I don’t know how that happened, but he was paying taxes on two 39-acre parcels when there was only one 39-acre parcel,” said board of supervisors attorney Tom Ross. “It got misnumbered or something.”
Catoe has received some of the money back.
“By law, we could refund him for three years and he has received that money,” Pearson said. “We’re doing whatever we’re required by law to do, but he’s seeing if maybe we could do a little more.”
The board took the matter under advisement and will discuss it at a further meeting.
One issue Pearson mentioned was, if Catoe is reimbursed, other landowners may approach the Board of Supervisors with the same concern. How much money Catoe would receive, if reimbursed, has not been determined.
Catoe did say he would accept payments a little at a time, if possible.
“Bascially, there are several things that are true,” Chaffin said to the board.
One, he said, is that there was a non-existent parcel of land picked up for taxation purpose in 1994 and, two, Catoe has paid taxes there since 1994.
“The question is, 'what could anyone have done, at least from the Catoe side, to catch this earlier?” Chaffin said, adding he did not believe anything could have been done. “We feel like, in fairness, they should get the money that was paid.”
Tax collector Hattie Shivers told the board that back in 1993 Jesse Ivy told the tax office what part of the county was supposed to be put into annexation.
“We couldn’t pinpoint exactly due to the two parcels butt up against each other,” Shivers said, adding they could have been from two different maps. “I think the actual parcel did not get deleted, but it should have.”
