Millions in property taxes can’t be collected

A strict definition of “delinquency” indicates Miami Valley Hospital as owing taxes. The hospital is pursing tax exempt status for two properties at the Ohio Department of Taxation, Robinson said.

Throughout the application process, the hospital is allowed to treat the taxes as if the exemption were granted. In other words, as if the taxes had not been placed on the property in the first place, Robinson said.

Fifty Montgomery County property owners owe the county more than $17.5 million in delinquent property taxes, but much of it can’t be collected, local officials said.

The Dayton Daily News examined a list of the top 50 delinquent property owners that was created by the Montgomery County Treasurer’s Office. The property owners have tax bills that range from more than $3 million to a bit more than $104,000, but only a dozen of them are on payment plans.

Altogether, real estate owners owe the county more than $100 million in delinquent property taxes, which fund schools, parks, libraries, cities and townships.

Most of the proprieties involved are commercial or industrial sites, including one that has been delinquent for nearly three decades. Owners of such landmarks as the Dayton Arcade, Elizabeth Place and the historic Schwind Hotel on Ludlow Street are among the debtors.

Owners of properties that became delinquent in the last three years have the greatest potential for paying off the tax debt, said Paul Robinson, Montgomery County’s chief deputy treasurer. Properties on the list prior to 2005 are probably not collectible, he said.

“In many of these cases, the taxes are the least of the problems,” Robinson said.” I do not want to minimize the impact of uncollected taxes, but we all know the problem is much more complex and is about economic redevelopment, (and) revitalizing the urban core.”

Pursuing this bad debt at the expense of focusing on newer but smaller delinquencies is not a wise move , Robinson said.

“Spending time/resources to figure out how to re-purpose the properties could be worthwhile but, strictly speaking, that is not a tax collection issue,” he said.

No. 1 debtor

J V Properties and Bert Green, based in Akron, owes nearly $3.1 million for 17 acres at the former Dayton Tire site on West Riverview Avenue. Altogether, JV holds the title to 30 acres along Wolf Creek and owes about $6.5 million in back taxes.

“I’m not sure the company exists anymore,” Aaron Sorrell, the city of Dayton’s director of planning and community development, said. “J V Properties walked away in 1983. The public will end up having to deal with these properties in the future.”

The property requires environment clean-up, a liability the city doesn’t want to take on, Sorrell said. The buildings have been demolished and the city planted prairie grass on the site to make it more attractive.

“We call it a nature preserve, but there are no trails” Sorrell said. “The livelihood is zero that the taxes will ever be paid off. It’s essentially fallow ground.”

The property could be a future candidate for the Montgomery County Land Reutilization Corp., or landbank, but a new use would have to be identified, Sorrell said. When properties are moved into the landbank, the property taxes are wiped out.

No. 2 debtor

An expedited foreclosure is underway against the No. 2 debtor on the list, Dayton Lodge Limited Liability Co., for the former Dayton Executive Hotel at 2401 Needmore Road.

Under a tentative deal struck with Harrison Twp. trustees in October, Lexington, Ky.-based developer Garrett Wood LLC, agreed to pay to demolish the derelict hotel — vacant since 2008 — located just feet from I-75’s northbound lanes. Clean-up of the site is underway. Demolition will be scheduled later in the year, said Kris McClintick, the township’s assistant administrator.

If the Montgomery County Board of Revision approves the expedited foreclosure, the county and township would repossess the property and hand it over to the developer. The county would also eliminate more than $1 million in property taxes owed by the current and previous owners of the former 225-room hotel.

The Board of Revision hearing date is pending, according to the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office.

“Wiping out a million in taxes doesn’t make us happy, but it’s better than having a vacant structure there,” Robinson said.

No. 3 debtor

CHOA Dayton LLC, owner of the Ramada Plaza Hotel Dayton, 2301 Wagner Ford Road in Harrison Twp., ranked third on the list, owing just more than $1 million in delinquent property taxes. Calls to the hotel management were not returned. The hotel remains open for business. According to paperwork filed with the Ohio Secretary of State, CHOA is based in Escondido, Calif.

No. 4 debtor

The six-story Patterson Boulevard parking garage in downtown Dayton — owned by the Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority — ranked fourth on the list with $718,159 in unpaid property taxes. The property became delinquent in 2007.

The port authority is a political subdivision — created by the city of Dayton and Montgomery County — that assists in economic development. Port authorities can loan or secure funds, receive grants and buy assets to facilitate financing transactions.

The port authority’s property tax payments were actually supposed to be “payments-in-lieu-of taxes” made into a tax incremental financing fund to repay debt issued to help pay for construction of the parking garage, said Jerry Brunswick, executive director of the port authority. When the garage was built, an agreement with the original tenant of the adjacent building, Relizon, stipulated the company’s employees would park free. When WorkflowOne assumed the lease, the deal continued.

“The Port never got operating money to make the TIF payments,” Brunswick said. “We made payments for awhile using revenue from other projects. We are no longer able to do that.”

No. 6 debtor

Keith Klein, a senior development specialist for the city of Dayton, said the Multi-Service Inc. building at 1962 Radio Road in Dayton — No. 6 on the delinquent tax list — closed several years ago, but the building is in good shape. The former industrial laundromat owes $313,023 in property taxes.

“We had several folks asking about the building, but there is nothing on the short horizon,” Klein said.

No. 10 debtor

Dawn-BV II LLC, the private company that owns the Elizabeth Place medical mall in Dayton, landed No. 10 on the list. The company, on the county’s delinquent list since 2008, owes $258,273.57 in back taxes for the facility at 601 Edwin C. Moses Blvd. The Dayton Daily News got no response to its requests for an interview from management.

JV investments multiple delinquent properties: