Nina Harmon remembers Friday morning well. The registered dental assistant works next door to the Brick Oven restaurant along Highway 11E in Jonesborough. Friday, she was just taking out the garbage when she saw four state agents changing the locks of one of her favorite restaurants.
"They had guns and they had badges," Harmon said "It was scary."
It turns out, those people were tax enforcers from the Tennessee Department of Revenue. They came to the Brick Oven Friday to seize the business for not paying state taxes. Today, signs, chains, and padlocks still keep the owners and their employees out.
"We went two or three times a week, always friendly faces, always good service, clean, always friendly, so we were really disappointed," Harmon said. "When you work as close as we do, it's kind of like family. It was just sad. It was a sad day."
It was a sad day for owner Robbie Davis too.
"I hated that it happened the way it did," Davis said.
By phone, Davis admitted in the last five or six months, the Brick Oven has failed to send the sales tax it has collected to the state. He estimated the restaurant owes more than $25,000 in back taxes and penalties. Davis claimed his partner was supposed to front the start-up money for the restaurant, which has only been open for about a year. However, Davis said when that didn't happen and gas prices skyrocketed, he had to do something to keep the doors open.
That seemed to be just a temporary fix. Now, the restaurant's future remains unclear. Davis admitted, at this point, he doesn't know if his restaurant will ever reopen. His landlord, Kelly Wolfe, can only hope.
"They're still negotiating with the state as far as I know and I really have hopes that something will be resolved," Wolfe said. "A lot of folks are having a tough time right now and I hope these guys get this thing worked out. We'd like to see them stay in Jonesborough."
According to Davis, the Brick Oven now has less than 10 days to pay its back taxes. If the restaurant doesn't pay up, the state will come in and auction off all of the equipment inside, Davis said. As for any possible criminal charges, Davis said he is not aware of any.
Meanwhile, although the Tennessee Department of Revenue won't talk specifically about this case, spokesperson Sophie Moery said seizures like this one are rare, since they are a last resort.
"In general, if a business has been seized, they have been given every opportunity to pay its liability or arrange a payment schedule," Moery said.
Moery added, only a handful of businesses state seizes close for good. Of the 250 businesses seized in Tennessee last fiscal year, she said roughly 90 to 95% reopened within one to three days.
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