City council tables proposal to use tax returns to pay fines

On Tuesday the Tupelo City Council tabled a proposal that would take state tax return money from the people who owe fines to the city and put the money towards the unpaid fine.

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A city council meeting was held in tupelo tonight to vote on the ability to use residents' tax returns to pay off fines to the city... wtva's evan hensley joins us live with what happened at the meeting..

I spoke with plenty of residents here in tupelo who are wondering about this... their tax returns... many say that they rely on the return as a form of income... bit the decision on if they can be taken away has been pushed back by the city tonight... in a unanimous decision... the city voted to table the bill involving the tax returns.... this item would allow the city to take some of the residents state tax return and put it towards their unpaid fees or fines... city attorney ben logan says that the city is owed hundreds of thousands of dollars with of unpaid fees... including things like court fees..

Residents can opt to a payment plan or city work to pay off the fine... as well as contest the lein... logan says that there are still some unanswered questions about the idea which is why it was tabled.... sot "the recommendations from the city court is that they would need additional personnel for the position of debt set off coordinator which is someone who needs to be designated."

"we will need to look into putting a job description for that as well as a salary range as well as a budget amendments so we weren't quite ready to roll it out."

A timetable has not been set for the next move towards this project... meanwhile... some of the people i spoke with shared with me that this would be a big change for the city and it's taxpayers... reporting live in tupelo eh wtva