A handful of Island County businesses that have gone belly-up over the years were written off as a loss on Monday, as the board of commissioners nixed a list of personal property taxes that simply will never make it into the county’s coffers.

The resolution, which was submitted for the board’s approval by Island County Treasurer Maxine Sauter, cancels personal property taxes owed to the government by 22 companies that have failed, gone bankrupt or, in some cases, disappeared from the region without a trace.

Under state law, a list of uncollectible property taxes must be submitted by the county on the first day of February, along with an affidavit from the treasurer stating that a diligent but futile search had been made for the goods and chattel with which to make up such taxes.

In all, the revenue loss to Island County tallies at $2,083.89, a write-off that Sauter said is one of the lowest uncollectible personal tax totals in the entire state.

“It’s so little,” Sauter said of the uncollected levies. “In our county, we don’t have that much business going on.”

The individual property — or, as Sauter called it, “inventory” — taxes owed by each individual business also are relatively small, ranging from $12.73 to a high of $543.39, the latter amount owed by the out-of-business Mutiny Bay Co. sports and clothing shop that was once a fixture in Freeland.

Sauter said that the creation of the property tax list is a continuous process that goes beyond the treasurer’s office. County assessors are responsible for making sure new businesses are on the tax rolls as well as investigating whether certain companies have gone out of business or fled the region.

Some names can stay on the list for a long time before they’re finally written off.

“We work with them as long as we can,” Sauter said. “They’re small businesses, and sometimes they have a tough time. We can’t write them off until we are positive they’re no longer here and no longer functioning.”

She added: “Each year we submit a list of those that are uncollectible. The list goes on. It’s continuous.”

Sauter said she is generally pleased with the low amount of uncollected personal property taxes in the county. She certainly prefers such write-offs to the alternative, which is repossession.

“When they don’t pay, we could say we’re coming to close you down, but we don’t do that,” Sauter said. “We sure don’t want a big truck in our backyard.”

All in all, Sauter indicated that she is sympathetic with the plight of small businesses that try to make a go of it, yet don’t quite cut the mustard. “It’s sad in a way,” she said. “It’s hard on me, because I feel for these people.”