Chattooga County Tax Commissioner Joy Hampton is pleased with tax collections so far in Chattooga County.

“For 2016, 99.65% of the real property digest has been collected; for 2017, 97.95% has been collected, and for 2018, 79.75% has been collected as of today. I expect several payments to come in when people receive their income tax returns, so I am very happy with these numbers so far.

“With 33 properties remaining under bankruptcy, several of those bills will be tied up for a few more years.  To collect the remaining delinquencies, tax sales will start back up in March 2019. I expect to have at least 3 tax sales and one judicial tax sale next year to try to get the remaining ones in to pay.

“The rate will never be 100% due to the bankruptcy proceedings and some smaller lots that won’t bring any bidders at a tax sale, but I am happy to see the rate of collections so close to 100%.”

• In an earlier version of this story, Tax Commissioner Hampton had said tax collections for 2018 were at 97.75% – The Tax Commissioner told WZQZ News that she had transposed the numbers for 2018 and the collected amount so far is 79.75%.