By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - Twenty-nine businesses and individuals have paid $40,000 a little more than halfway through the city's eight-week amnesty campaign for past-due business taxes.

DO YOU OWE?

Who owes: The program applies to individuals and businesses that have not paid local net profit or payroll taxes. Dates: The program is in effect from April 19 through June 11. Information: To find out if you owe or to get an application, go to www.covingtontaxamnesty.com or call (859) 292-2122.

The total includes nine new accounts paid in full, Covington finance director Bob Due said. By doing so, they avoid monthly interest and penalties on late net profits and payroll taxes.

The city doesn't know how much in uncollected business taxes it is missing, Due said. There are at least 1,000 accounts that owe the city money and probably more that the city isn't aware of, he said.

"As far as total dollars, it's not anything to really get excited about at this point,'' Due said. "But I think because of the call volume and the experience that Lexington had, we're still real optimistic."

When Lexington Fayette Urban County Government tried one of the nation's first tax amnesty programs last fall, officials hoped to generate $400,000.

Instead, the central Kentucky government took in $2.6 million - most of that within the campaign's last five days. About 1,250 accounts also were added to the area's tax rolls.

For the past month, auditors in Covington's finance department have devoted much of their time to amnesty issues, sending out informational packets and fielding calls ranging from "I'm not sure if I owe or not" to "What do I need to fill out?" Due said.

CJ Advertising of Lexington, the company that ran Lexington's campaign, is reaching out to delinquent taxpayers through ads on buses, radio, in newspapers and on TV. Although Covington's tax amnesty campaign is costing $108,462, officials expect to collect several times that amount.

Those who don't pay by the June 11 deadline risk seeing the city in court. Covington City Solicitor Jay Fossett said representatives of the city's legal and finance departments met last week to start compiling a list of those who have been notified they owe late business taxes, but haven't responded.

"We told them to prepare a list of everybody they suspect are not paying, and we're going to start off with a big bang," Fossett said. "We plan to start filing complaints the day after the program ends."

The city is adding several positions to target offenders, including an attorney whose sole job will be to prosecute delinquent taxpayers.

Due said more than half of the city's general-fund revenues are from net profits and payroll taxes. The city gets about $18 million a year in payroll taxes, and annual net profits taxes range from $1.8 million to $2.3 million, depending on the economy.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com