PORTSMOUTH
Despite being given a second chance to develop the property at the old Cradock High School site, Councilman Danny Meeks has again failed to pay his taxes on time.
As of Wednesday morning, he owed more than $17,000 in taxes, stormwater fees, penalties and interest, according to the city’s website. In January, The Virginian-Pilot reported that he owed more than $13,000 in taxes and fees, which he then paid.
When reached by phone Wednesday, Meeks initially said, “You can write your story. I don’t care.”
He said he won’t pay the taxes and fees until the city recalculates his stormwater fees. He argued that after his company tore down Cradock High, the amount of runoff decreased and his fees should go down accordingly.
During the conversation with The Pilot, he got frustrated again, saying, “I am going to be honest with you, I am just going to go back to being mute to you because whatever you can write, it’s like a sneaky story.”
He said he has made the stormwater point clear with the city, and Portsmouth owes him a reimbursement of $17,000 to $20,000 for all the fees he wrongly paid last year. He said he offered City Treasurer Jimmy Williams payment for his taxes only, not stormwater fees, but Williams said it didn’t work that way.
Williams said over email that payments would be applied to the oldest stormwater fees including penalties and interest and then applied to the oldest real estate taxes, penalties and interest.
City spokeswoman Dana Woodson did not return a call, and she and deputy city managers LaVoris Pace and Vincent Jones did not return questions sent via email.
Councilman Bill Moody said he thought an elected official should set an example.
“I think the expectation from people who elect us is that we stay current on our taxes,” he said.
Mayor Kenny Wright and council members Elizabeth Psimas, Mark Whitaker, Paige Cherry and Curtis Edmonds did not return calls.
Besides being delinquent on his taxes,
Meeks’ Cradock development went into default last year after his company, Cradock Properties LLC, missed project deadlines. The company failed to complete the infrastructure for a portion of the 200-home development.
Meeks’ company owns about 20 acres of the 42-acre site. The city owns the rest. The company spent about $1.8 million to demolish the school and build a rec center and sports fields at Cradock Middle.
Because he was in default, the city could have spent up to $1 million to reimburse Meeks for demolition costs.
Instead, the city and the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which facilitated the deal, gave Meeks a one-year extension in December. At the time, Meeks owed about $800 in taxes and fees. By January, that figure had grown to $13,000.
Meeks paid the taxes shortly after The Pilot began looking into the issue in January.
“You are wrong again on the taxes,” Meeks wrote to a Pilot reporter in a text afterward. “Nice try.”
Meeks’ property is now at another crossroads.
Ryan Homes, the builder that is taking on the project, has requested to go before the City Council on Sept. 13 for a vote on changes to its homebuilding application. The project initially was approved for 200 homes, but Ryan now wants to build 172 with larger lots.
The Planning Commission unanimously approved the changes in July.
As far as the council’s vote, Moody said members could separate the issues of overdue taxes and the number of homes.
“I think the taxes will have to be current one way or the other,” he said. “I am confident the treasurer will make sure the taxes are current at the time of the sale.”
Johanna Somers, 757-446-2478, johanna.somers@pilotonline.com Follow @JohannaSomers1 on Twitter.
