Eufaula courthouse limited to one tag-teller

By Anastasia Harbuck

Published: October 1, 2008

Nancy Robertson is through playing tag.

She won’t sell them either. During a telephone interview Tuesday, the Barbour County probate judge said that she would no longer help tag-tellers in Eufaula and Clayton sell tags for Barbour County vehicles.

Robertson said she’s just too overwhelmed with her own duties as probate judge to worry herself with selling vehicle tags. Robertson has a shopping list of her own tasks to attend to including court and election duties and managing court costs.

“I’m up to my eyeballs in that,” she said.

But she’s not the only overworked employee at the Barbour County probate offices. An employee in the probate office was laid off a week ago, leaving one tag-teller at the Eufaula courthouse to sell tags to local drivers. Two full-time employees work at the Clayton probate office and both are authorized to sell tags.

“We’ve all jumped in there to sell tags,” said Robertson, telling of the days when everyone in the probate office - from herself to the bookkeeper - helped out the tag-tellers. “We just tried to keep it going.”
But now other probate office employees that used to aid tag-tellers have had other tasks heaped upon them thanks to cuts in funding. Robertson said they simply can’t spare the time to help.

That didn’t stop the influx of people coming to the Eufaula courthouse Tuesday to buy new tags for their vehicles. There was a long line leading up to the probate office at 4:25 p.m. It didn’t seem likely that driver C. Harris would get her new tag that day and Tuesday was the final day to buy tags without paying penalty fees.

Tags purchased late result in a $15 penalty fee plus interest for however many days the vehicle is overdue. That could result in a lot of unhappy drivers, seeing as the probate office closes at 4:30 p.m., but Robertson said the office will close at 4:30 p.m., as it has done for approximately a year, regardless of how many people are waiting to buy tags.

“It’s not my fault … people wait until the last minute to buy tags,” said Robertson.

However, Tuesday at the courthouse, Harris said the probate office would make allowances for those still in line at 4:30 p.m.

“They told us if we’re still in line, we can sign a list and we won’t have to pay the penalty (when we come back tomorrow),” said Harris.

Robertson, meanwhile, said the probate office’s troubles stem from funding cuts by the county commission. The probate office isn’t the only county entity suffering from low funding. Robertson said the sheriff’s department and county senior centers have lost employees as well.

“We’re the ones on the line here, taking the heat,” said Robertson.

To ease troubles for the probate office and for local drivers, Robertson encourages others to contact the probate office about getting new tag stickers via mail. She said this process is as simple as mailing in a tag number and money to purchase a new tag.

“And I’ll pay for the stamp,” she added.

To learn how to purchase a tag via mail, contact the Eufaula probate office at 687-7637 or the Clayton office at 775-8371.