On August 26, the Vienna City Council, following its usual procedure, decided by 6 votes to 1 to publish a list of property owners who are in arrears with the payment of their property taxes.

But it was not unanimous.

City staff provided council members with a list of amounts due through Aug. 7. The debt on those ten properties totaled $44,987, an increase of $9,534 from the previous year.

Authorities attributed much of the overage to three properties on the list that had been delinquent on their payments since before 2020. The city has placed liens on those properties, which is common practice when bills have been outstanding for two or more years.

After updating the list of payments made as of August 26, the Vienna authorities will publish it in the Washington Times and on the city’s website.

The city has collected at least 99 percent of delinquent taxes for years, and the collection rate in fiscal year 2024 was 99.9 percent.

The council also agreed on Aug. 26 to write off 21 bills this year with a remaining balance of less than $5 each, for a total of $40.01.

State law requires the city treasurer (Finance Director Marion Serfass) to submit the list of delinquent taxes to the City Council, which then has the option to make it public, said City Attorney Steven Briglia, adding that the list is technically made public when it becomes part of the City Council’s records.

The Vienna authorities do not want to expose the guilty property owners, but are publishing the list for reasons of transparency and to show the public that the city administration is taking steps to collect the taxes owed, Briglia said.

Councilwoman Sandra Allen was the only one to vote against the publication of the list. She said the amounts owed were a pittance compared to the millions spent on various city projects. She expressed concern about the latter.

“The economic situation is not conducive to investing in pet projects,” she said. “This shows how little our governments lose touch with our citizens.”

However, other council members said they saw publishing the list as their duty and did not want bad behavior to be rewarded.

Council member Roy Baldwin said he drove past some of the homes on the list.

“One theme among them is that they are all bigger than my house,” he said