Written by In May 2025, it was announced by the Marion City Auditor’s office that there was over $1,000,000 in delinquent income taxes owed to the city of Marion.
That’s a sizeable amount of money, which was legally and lawfully owed to the city of Marion pursuant to its 2% municipal income tax, that has gone uncollected for years.
Unfortunately, collection action, being the responsibility of the Income Tax department and the Law Director’s office, hasn’t been a priority for the city. Many of those who shafted the city out of income tax revenue over the years got off scot free, since the statute of limitations for such collection action is only three years from the date that the tax was due or the return was filed, whichever is later (0RC 718.12).
It is unclear just how much money in delinquent income taxes the city of Marion has lost over the years. If it currently stands at $1 million, how much was lost 5, 10, 15, 20+ years ago–never to be recovered?
In an effort to collect what the city is currently owed from these scofflaws, Marion City Council passed Ordinance 2025-071 in July of this year.
Under that ordinance, council authorized the Marion City Auditor’s Income Tax Department to enter into an agreement with the Ohio Attorney General’s office to assist in the “collection of past due (income tax) amounts, penalties, costs, and civil costs” due to the city of Marion on income tax debts that have been delinquent for more than 12 months.
Such an agreement would not cost the city of Marion anything. The Ohio Attorney General’s office would recoup its collection costs by assessing the delinquent taxpayer a 10% additional fee.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office has unique capabilities, namely employer information access and tax refund set offs, which all other debt collectors, including the city of Marion, do not have access to.
Interestingly, however, Ordinance 2025-071 was written to preclude the Ohio Attorney General’s office from forwarding uncollected debt to either a third-party debt collector or special counsel, which is by all accounts an important resource used by the AG’s office in such circumstances.
Ordinance 2025-071 passed by a vote of 9-0 from Marion City Council.
However, there is no indication that the City Auditor’s Income Tax Department has executed the agreement with the Ohio Attorney General’s office yet.
As the city of Marion navigates its way through this fiscal crisis, in addition to seeking efficiency and austerity in all city departments, it must first seek collection of revenues that it is already legally and lawfully owed.
Executing this agreement and pursuing the $1 million or more in delinquent city income taxes is a commonsense option to increase city revenues at a time when they are sorely needed.