Dennis Medlock, Dent County’s collector of revenue for 20 years, is leaving office Friday after a long career in public service.
Before entering politics, he and his wife, Vicky, operated Reed’s Cabins at Montauk State Park for 13 seasons. His first foray into county government was in 1988, when he ran successfully for First District county commissioner and served for six years.
In 1998, he ran for collector and won the first of five, four-year terms. Collectors take office on the March 1 after they are elected in the fall.
“I found it’s been a privilege to work for the citizens of Dent County,” he said. “They have always been very good to me in every way, and I do appreciate all that. I’ve been through eight primary elections and eight general elections. Sometimes I didn’t have an opponent and sometimes I did.”
One of the biggest changes he’s seen is the increase in the amount of taxes collected.
“My first year here I think we collected like $4 million, and this year we’re going to collect close to $8 million, so things have changed in Dent County,” he said. “Property values have gone up. Tax amounts are different.”
Another big change over the years is the rules concerning tax sales. If no taxes are paid on a property for three years, it can be sold for the amount of taxes owed on it. The sales are held every August.
“There have been many, many changes in the process,” he said. “My first year here when I sold something people had three years to redeem, and now we’re down to one year to redeem.”
Other changes include the introduction of tools like Quickbooks and Excel to help manage tax revenue. Deputy collector Shannon VanKirk, who will take office as the new county collector on Friday, began moving all the spreadsheets to Excel after she joined the office in 2014. She was elected last fall.
Medlock called Excel a must-have tool to manage $8 million every year. Quickbooks has been used for several years to manage the county’s interest-bearing bank accounts.
The outgoing collector, who chose not to run last fall, credited VanKirk with implementing the online payment of taxes using a credit card after she came on board.
“She came to work in August of 2014 and at that time we were not making online credit card collections,” he said. “She took that over and is totally responsible for all of that. I think everyone appreciates that, and she’s done a superb job with everything she’s been involved with doing in the office.”
As he approaches retirement, Medlock said he has no particular plans but appreciates his job and all the years voters have allowed him to serve them.
“I’m not much for making statements,” he said. “I just want to do what I’m guided to be done by the good Lord.”
He may do a little hunting and fish though.
“If a man’s too busy to go fishin’ he’s too busy,” he laughed. “If I get a chance to go fishin’, I’m goin’ fishin’. If I get a chance to go huntin’, I’m goin’ huntin’. I won’t have to report every day to a certain place.”
