Deceased local woman sued over back taxes

[CoolBreeze]

Elkview resident Marcy Wisman got a surprise Saturday when she received a letter in the mail stating that a law firm hired by the county intends to sue her mother for $12.67 in back taxes from 2005.

She doesn't deny that her mother failed to pay personal property taxes in 2005. After all, her mother had been dead for nearly seven years at the time.

Betty Butcher, Wisman's mother, died in 1998 at the age of 74.

"They're wasting their time pursuing the deceased," Wisman said.

The letter was sent from the law offices of Clinton W. Smith, one of two firms that the Kanawha County Commission has hired to collect back taxes from 2005.

At the time of Butcher's death, she didn't own anything that would have required payment of personal property taxes, according to her daughter.

She said her mother owned a car until the last year of her life, despite the fact that she couldn't drive.

"She liked to look out the window and see it sitting there," Wisman said. "It gave her a sense of independence."

But Butcher sold that car to her grandson - who was a student at West Virginia University at the time - well before she died, Wisman said.

Wisman is certain the title and registration were properly transferred to the grandson's name.

She finds some humor in the predicament. But she wants the problem taken care of.

Bleigh said Wisman should contact Assessor Phyllis Gatson's office to have the problem resolved.

"But we certainly aren't going to collect something that is uncollectible," he said.

But in addition to leaving messages with the law firm and Bleigh's office, Wisman said she already has contacted two different employees in the assessor's office to no avail.

"Neither one of them said they could help me," she said.

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