An open records request made by WLBB radio has revealed that a single candidate in the race for Carroll County Chairman has an outstanding unpaid account with the county.
WLBB radio asked if any of the candidates running for chairman had unpaid taxes or fees due to the county.
The response was that Dominion Contracting had a balance due of $3,417.76 to Carroll County solid waste management for tipping fees at the transfer station. Of that due amount, $2,399.42 is past due and $1,018.34 is current as of May 3, 2019.
Lee Powers is the owner and operator of Dominion Contracting.
When WLBB radio contacted Powers, he insisted he would remedy the issue this week:
“It was just something that was overlooked. It ain’t like that we are not going to try to pay nobody. It will be taken care of actually this week. I was not aware that it had not been taken care of because I do not pay the bills for Dominion Contracting. My office staff does. But it will be taken care of.”
Another balance due to the county from Powers is for his 2019 business license for Dominion Contracting. It had expired on December 31, 2018 but did have a grace period until April 15, 2019 to renew. Powers said he was aware that his business license has expired and he has not yet updated it because its correlation with his taxes, which he had filed an extension for 2019.
“It’s based on our taxes and we filed an extension and my accountant is working on that now. Actually it will be finished this week or next week. Our taxes couldn’t get done by April 15. I’ve got four different businesses and my accountant said ‘that since this is so big and we have other things to do, can I put yours off and file an extension and I’ll get to them after April15,” commented Lee.
Powers said he has actually alerted county officials of the issue of updating his business license. He acknowledged he may have to pay financial penalties for the delays, and he said he is “ok with that.”
Powers concluded: “I don’t see how this would hurt my campaign because we did not do anything intentionally to try to hurt anybody.”
