CAHIL TO RUN FOR COUNTY COLLECTOR

Tom Cahill, a Cape Girardeau businessman, filed Thursday for Cape Girardeau County Collector.

"The most important function for any collector is to collect the past due receivables," Cahill said. "The county needs a collection rate of over 99 percent or county services may be adversely affected. My goal would be to virtually eliminate past-due taxes."

Cahill is a Republican.

He and his wife, Patricia, own and operate Cahill Cleaning Service, a company they started when they moved to Cape Girardeau four years ago. The company serves seven local businesses.

His wife is originally from Benton. The couple moved to Cape Girardeau to be near her family.

In addition to his experience as a business owner, Cahill has 13 years of collection experience with his previous employer, Dresser Industries, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, Texas. His last position with that company was credit and collections manager. He has experience in collection calls, lien filing, bankruptcy proceedings, filings of proofs of claim, wage garnishment, international collection and supervising and accounts receivable.

Cahill said that approximately 3,800 taxpayers haven't paid their 1997, a delinquency rate of more than 7 percent. "Many businesses wouldn't be able to keep their doors open with a delinquency rate that high," he said.

"My primary duty would be to contact the 3,800 individually by mail and phone in order to personally encourage them to pay their late taxes," Cahill said.

"In the future, I would see that ads are placed in the local papers in late December of each year that would encourage Cape County property owners to pay their tax bill on time and avoid the penalties, even if I had to pay for the ads myself."

Cahill also said that if elected, he would see that in January of each year, late notices would be mailed and followed up with a personal, courteous collection call.

Cahill is a graduate of Woonsocket High School in South Dakota and the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, with a bachelor's degree in business administration majoring in accounting.

He and his wife are members of Immaculate Conception Church in Jackson. They have one son.