To the Editor,

I would like to express my appreciation to County Commissioner David Edge, the representative of District No. 6, for having the 2017 Notice of Lien on Real Property published in The Robesonian on July 1 and made available at robesonian.com. He did so after the listings were published in May but did not comply with the statue due to the purposeful omission of certain property parcels with ties directly to or related to county commissioners.

The rumored “practice” of removal of those property owners who are “well connected” is deceitful and should be condemned. That Commissioner Edge unselfishly used his discretionary funds to attempt to restore taxpayer trust that a uniform public notice policy of all delinquent taxpayers with no special privileges for the well connected was a commendable and sorely needed gesture. The identities of those who selected what names were to be left off the delinquent public lists each year should be made public and at a minimum they should sign a statement that the practice will be discontinued. Such a disclosure would go far, as the commissioners have enacted actions this year that have opened eyes of the leaders and officials in the other 99 counties as to how business is conducted here, which is routinely with a lack of transparency and an obvious conflict of interest.

Bo Biggs

Lumberton