Almost $25 million of that is from the current year, while the remaining balance is for taxes which should have been collected more than a year ago, according to the Butler County Treasurer’s office.
That figure pending collection is “a moving target,” said Lori Sullivan, chief deputy of operations for the treasurer. The figure includes pending tax exemptions, properties already in the process of foreclosure due to tax or mortgage issues and utilities that may be appealing their tax bill with the state.
The collection of delinquent property taxes are important to the county as it grapples with deficits in the budget that could eventually lead to cuts in services. It’s also a expensive proposition to collect on the delinquent taxes in the legal system.
About $19.8 million in delinquent taxes is owed for residential properties versus $11.4 million for commercial and industrial. Treasurer Nancy Nix said the influx of those unable to pay, especially businesses, has “been getting my attention” because “these are my neighbors.”
“No one wants to see business owners put out of business because of taxes, but it does happen,” Nix said. “But I have to recognize that everyone else is paying their taxes and we can’t just let these slip.”
Attempts to collect
Tax bills are sent in the mail in January and July to property owners — even those who escrow their taxes with their mortgage payments. Included is information for how to enroll in a payment plan for delinquent taxes bills. There is also the option of escrow, when owners can pay the tax in advance through monthly installments, Sullivan said.
“The (Ohio Revised Code) requires the treasurer to offer a payment plan for residential customers. We don’t have to offer it to commercial (taxpayers), but we do,” Sullivan said.
Delinquent taxpayers will receive a “third billing” indicating the year’s tax balance is late — in the two year period it takes before an owner could find himself facing foreclosure, Sullivan said.
Brian Cole, formerly of Middletown, received three notices.
“It’s humiliating. I could barely make my payments on my property and then eventually I couldn’t pay my taxes or payments,” he said.
Not everyone will qualify for a payment plan. Those that have been delinquent on their tax bill and been set up on a plan before may find themselves out of luck the second time around, said Tan Abner, manager of the delinquent tax division for the treasurer’s office.
“We try to work with everyone, but there may be some that are beyond anything we can do to help,” Sullivan said. “But we wouldn’t be doing our job as tax collectors if we didn’t try to collect.”
Foreclosure, Sullivan said, is the last option.
Foreclosure influx
There were 915 properties listed as eligible for tax foreclosure as of Aug. 3. All owed more than $1,000 in delinquent taxes and the balance went as high as $125,929. In total, these owners owe the county more than $5 million in property taxes, according to the treasurer’s office.
Before a property is sent to the auction block, a “demand letter” is sent by the prosecutor to the owner requesting payment. They have 14 days to respond. After that, Sullivan said a title search is completed and a complaint of foreclosure is filed with the clerk of courts. The owner still has 28 days to respond before the property is listed for foreclosure and two weeks after that before it goes to auction.
Even after the property is listed for auction, Abner said the owner has until that day to work out a payment plan with the treasurer if they are eligible.
Even with so many “second chances” to pay the delinquent tax bill, Jim Allen, foreclosure auctioneer for the sheriff’s office, said there has been such an influx in tax foreclosures that he had to add an additional weekly auction. Beginning in August, every Tuesday the county holds an auction just for tax foreclosures. About 20 properties have made it to the sale process each week, Allen said.
“It’s our job to make sure that they all get processed and I thought it might be easier to split (the tax foreclosures) from the mortgage foreclosures into two. That way it won’t be just one big sale,” Allen said.
A lot more investors come to the tax sales, he said, because the “prices are lower” since there is not always a mortgage balance due on the property.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.
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