At the Board of Commissioners' work session and meeting, Ray said about 2,000 bills, or 2.7 percent, were uncollected so far. His office could handle about 80 collections a month.

Ray proposed hiring Government Tax Solutions, one of three contractors that provide such services in Georgia, which would assist with research and notification and could handle a much greater volume than the in-house staff, said Ray.

A fee that would be charged to the delinquent payer to fund the contractor's services, "so that the cost of the service is not being passed on to the good tax-payers who paid their bills," Ray said.

"I believe this is a win-win situation for all," said Ray. "It saves us some money. It allows us to get the job done."

Ray said his office had previously used outside contractors but the volume of uncollected tax bills had been whittled down about five years ago to a manageable level and the work was brought in-house.

"Our number one objective here is to collect the taxes, not the tax sales. Selling someone's property is the last thing I want to do."