Two Elected Officials Perennially Late on Property Taxes Finally Pay Up After Public Exposure

Beleaguered Forsyth County Commissioner Todd Levent and Board of Education Member Lindsey Adams have a record of not paying their taxes on time, and this year only paid after being outed online.

As previously reported, Levent has been late on his property taxes seven of the last eight years and records show Adams has been late seven out of the last eight years as well. In multiple instances, the County has had to file liens on Levent and Adams’ homes to get them to pay up, but this year it looks like public pressure got to them first.

Forsyth Homeowners News published an article pointing out Levent’s delinquency on Dec 5, 2023 and Levent paid his late taxes the next day. Likewise, Adams announced her re-election on Jan 23, and after critics on social media asked when she would be paying her delinquent taxes, she paid them on Jan 25, months after they were due.

A Facebook page formed in opposition to Adams’ re-election says Adams has been violating free speech laws by deleting comments on her social media page and even completely turning off comments at one time. Multiple court cases have said public officials cannot do this, and despite this being pointed out in writing, Levent is also known to censor comments on his page. Former Georgia Governor candidate, Vernon Jones, was fined $45k in a similar case tried in federal court.

The County government and school system rely on timely tax payments to fund their operations, but Levent and Adams have left the County chasing them down in court to pay their bills while most other property owners have paid on time. Levent and Adams have both raised taxes multiple times by not rolling back millage rates.

The County budget has increased over 100% during Levent’s tenure, while the County’s population has increased 52%. After years of unsuccessful attempts, including votes to more than double his salary, Levent voted to raise his County salary 23% last year.

“It’s appalling the deadbeat politicians are always late on their taxes!” one citizen opined, “We should be able to expect this basic level of civic responsibility from our elected officials.”