Camilla Mayor Rufus Davis slapped with $2.9 million IRS tax levy

CAMILLA — When Camilla Mayor Rufus Davis was sworn into office in January, he promised to bring change to the Southwest Georgia town of 5,000 people. Last week, Davis found himself involved in some change of his financial status after the city received notice of an IRS levy totaling almost $3 million filed against the mayor.

The IRS notice of levy on wages, salary and other income, dated Feb. 3, was sent to city of Camilla Personnel Director Renee Brazeale. The notice states: “This levy requires the person who received it to turn over to us: your wages and salary that have been earned but not paid, as well as wages and salary earned in the future until the levy is released.”

The levy covers the tax periods from 2006 to 2009. The notice said Davis owes the IRS $55,502 from 2006, $175,109 from 2007, $2,374, 463 from 2008, and $375,113 from 2009. The total of the levy is $2,980,189.

Davis did not return a telephone call, text message or Facebook message on Tuesday seeking comment.

According to an employment application filed with Albany State University, Davis worked as a vice president with the Princeton Review from August 2005 to October 2007 and left the company with a salary of $250,000. According to his ASU application, Davis then took a position as executive vice president/managing partner of Attaché in October 2007 before leaving the company in April 2011 with a final salary of $275,000.

In January 2015, Davis was hired for the newly created position of director of budgeting and fiscal affairs at Albany State. He resigned that $41,000 position last month, saying he wanted to devote his time to being a full-time mayor of Camilla.

Article 2 of the Georgia Constitution does not preclude Davis from holding office because of the levy. Paragraph III of Article 2 states an individual is ineligible to hold office “who is a defaulter for any federal, state, county, municipal, or school system taxes required of such officeholder or candidate if such person has been finally adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to owe those taxes …,” but also says that “… such ineligibility may be removed at any time by full payment thereof, or by making payments to the tax authority pursuant to a payment plan thereof, or by making payments to the tax authority pursuant to a payment plan, or under such other conditions as the General Assembly may provide by general law.”

In his short tenure as mayor, Davis has had a strained relationship with the the Camilla City Council and City Manager Bennett Adams over issues including Davis’ demands for keys to City Hall, utility rates, speakers at council meetings, and his call for construction of a city swimming pool.

At Monday’s meeting, the council members decided to require all individuals who want to speak before the council to submit their request to speak and the topic that they want to discuss five days before the meeting so that they can be placed on the meeting agenda.

In addition, the council suspended work sessions, which previously had been conducted on Tuesdays in the weeks preceding and following the monthly Monday council business meeting.