Arlington’s tax-delinquency rate ticked up slightly this year, despite the county treasurer’s office’s efforts to address high rates of late payment and non-payment of vehicle taxes.
The delinquency rate of 0.18% was up from 0.17% last year and above the goal of 0.16% set by Treasurer Carla de la Pava.
The figure, announced at a staff gathering Aug. 15, represents the amount left to collect on more than $1 billion in real-estate taxes, car taxes and business tangible taxes that flow through the treasurer’s office each year.
At the event, de la Pava set a goal of 0.157% for the coming year.
“We’re going to make it,” she told ARLnow. “I have faith. We have a great team.”
“We’ll figure out a way,” said Babar Sheikh, the assistant deputy treasurer for compliance.
He noted that, in a collection spurt in early August as the reporting deadline loomed, the office brought in $37 million in delinquent funds.
“That’s not chump change,” Sheikh said.
The delinquency rate stood at about 8% — 45 times the 2025 rate — when Frank O’Leary was elected treasurer in 1983. Over his three decades in office, O’Leary used both carrots and sticks to enforce compliance.
When O’Leary retired in 2014, he and his staff had cut the delinquency rate to 0.33%.
“It’s a culmination of so many years of effort by so many good people,” O’Leary, who died last year, said at the time.
Under de la Pava, who had been chief deputy in the office before being appointed and then elected treasurer, the already minuscule rate left by O’Leary has been cut nearly in half.
Arlington officials believe the county’s delinquency rate is by far the lowest in the commonwealth. Most local governments do not publish similar statistics.
The biggest challenge for the Arlington collectors over the past two years has been addressing unpaid vehicle taxes. Approximately 25,000 Arlington car-tax bills are unpaid by the October due date in a typical year, officials say.
To address that, the treasurer’s office this year will include targeted QR codes on delinquency notices that are mailed out. Those who receive the notices can scan the codes and be taken directly to a payment-plan page.
“It’s going to be a game-changer,” de la Pava predicted. “It will be all self-service. Think about how much quicker we can start getting payments.”
Also in the works is a plan to allow vehicle owners to make partial car-tax payments in intervals throughout the year, rather than be faced with a one-time, lump-sum payment that can run into hundreds of dollars.
Before dealing with future delinquencies, the office will continue to work on clearing out the backlog of bills that already are past due.
“We’re going to hit the ground running,” Sheikh told staff. “Keep it up; don’t slow down.”
