BELHAVEN — Mayor Adam O’Neal faces thousands of dollars in penalties for five years of unpaid income taxes and penalties, as well as foreclosure on his East Water Street home, according to documents filed at the Beaufort County Superior Clerk of Court’s Office.

For tax years 2010 to 2014, O’Neal has paid only a portion of the amount he owed the state for individual income tax — payments totaling $8,872.91, the last of which was paid in 2012, records show.

He still owes $41,817.79, a balance that includes more than $11,500 in penalty fees and interest, according to certificates of tax liability filed by the Secretary of Revenue.

In the state of North Carolina, delinquent taxpayers can face a variety of consequences, including interest charged, which is required by General Statute, penalty fees, money taken out of paychecks and/or forced collections, according to Trevor Johnson, public information officer for the state’s Revenue Service.

“The majority of North Carolina taxpayers are compliant,” Johnson said. “It is the reality that we have the division of non-compliance, so that we get what is owed to the state.”

He said the consequences faced by a delinquent taxpayer are largely dependent upon how the taxpayer handles the debt and attempts to pay it.

O’Neal wrote in an email Sunday that much of his financial hardship can be attributed to his time spent trying to reopen the former Vidant Pungo Hospital in Belhaven.

“The almost 3 years and 6 months of fighting for our hospital has caused many sacrifices by my family and I. At the beginning, I realized the hospital issue was an issue larger than my own personal interests. This meant that I had to put on hold my personal goals and focus entirely on the hospital fight,” O’Neal wrote. “Focusing entirely on an issue that doesn’t pay me any income for 3.5 years is damaging financially. This hospital fight has taken as much time as a full-time job and all of my mental focus.”

When Vidant Pungo Hospital closed in July 2014, O’Neal and other officials and residents fought to reopen the facility. The old building was demolished in the last days of December 2016.

In a separate matter, O’Neal faces foreclosure on his 693 E. Water St. home in Belhaven after defaulting on the loan for the property, according to records filed with Superior Court. The house is set to go up for public auction at the Beaufort County Courthouse on Feb. 9.

“The debtors have failed to pay the monthly installments for the months of February 1, 2016 and subsequent months. The current principal balance is $432,113.05,” an affidavit dated Jan. 10, 2017, reads.

According to the affidavit, O’Neal was contacted via letters and telephone about the delinquent payments to try to work out a solution before foreclosure proceedings.

Pamela O’Neal is also listed as an owner of the house.

In a request to avoid foreclosure, O’Neal again attributed his financial hardship to reduced income due to the “health care crisis” in Belhaven. Foreclosure hearings related to the 693 E. Water St. property have been continued for months, as far back as July 2016.

Civil rights activist Bob Zellner also submitted an undated, handwritten letter to the Clerk of Court, asking for a 30-day extension on foreclosure proceedings to allow O’Neal to “clear up this mortgage issue.”

O’Neal wrote Sunday that the outstanding balance “will be paid in time just like all the other taxes I have paid since I was 16 years old.”

“I have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars of income taxes in my life,” he wrote. “Fighting to Save Our Hospital and stop people from dying from lack of an emergency room is more important than me. My taxes and other financial hardship will work themselves out over time.”