County Commission Meeting – December 9th

Commissioners discussed a budget report. There will be a budget hearing at the December 30th commission meeting.

The audit performed by Mr. Sercer cost Bourbon County $8,150. This was the audit that resulted in his report we published in October.

Ron Center came to talk to the commissioners about roll off containers at the dump. Someone came in with a roll off container and the whole thing was full of trash. He had put the load down as C&D which is a lower rate. He said people are dumping things at the lower rate knowing that it needs to be at the higher rate.  He said that the county isn’t breaking even at the dump. He said March was the only month where they weren’t in the red.

He also talked about how they need some type of loader out at the dump. He is concerned that the land field money was used to buy a skid loader years ago and it was never used at the landfill.

The commissioners talked about the need to raise prices at the landfill, but were concerned that if the prices are too high, people will just dump trash in the ditches.

A citizen came in to point out that there aren’t many places in town where you can get rid of used oil.

Ron Grey and several members of the sheriff office came in. Sheriff asked to go into executive session for 10 minutes to discuss non-elected personel matters.

The Susan Quick (Bourbon County Treasurer) said the the court fees have been set for the sale at $250 per parcel. There isn’t a tax sale date yet. Mr. Meara said he can’t set a date yet.

A tax payer came in to pay his taxes on the second. He paid for 2006 and 2007 before the paperwork had been filed in court. The Treasurer was asking if he needed to pay all of the remaining taxes including the $250 court fee or if the individual can partially redeem their property by paying the 2006 and 2007 taxes.

Mr. Endicott said that all of the properties need to be treated the same. The Treasurer was fine with that, but wanted to make sure the decision came from the Commissioners.

She asked the Commissioners if Mr. Meara could give them a date for the sale so she can tell people when it will occur.

John Scott asked if it had been determined whether the grinder pumps had a 2 or 5 year warranty. Chairman Endicott said that it was 5 years even though the instruction manual states it is only a 2 year warranty.

The Commissioners left at 10:45 to do a fence viewing in Franklin TWP. The Commissioners will declare which part of the fence needs to be maintained by which land owner.

17 thoughts on “County Commission Meeting – December 9th”

  1. I have nothing nice to say except to thank you, Mark, for providing the information for us. I have not paid my property taxes yet and normally would have.

  2. I understand the delinquent taxes were filed on the 2nd of December , the same day that a taxpayer paid their 2006 and 2007 taxes. I wonder what time the taxes were filed and what time the taxpayer came in to pay them. We need to be fair and with all that has happened, we need to know these things. There should be no exceptions made, as too many things have already been allowed. If they paid after the filing was done, yes, they need to pay the court costs plus all the remaining taxes, why does she just not get it.? If she already took their money, why is she asking now? She is the county treasurer and should know the law.

    1. How soon they forget, per Mark’s notes, 18 November 2011: Susan Quick said that Dan Meara (the attorney handling the tax sale) should have everything ready by December 1st. Ms. Quick said that Mr. Meara had some cases ready to file, but she had told individuals that they had until December 1st to pay their taxes. She also said it wasn’t fair if some people had the foreclosures started before others because it would give some people more time to pay.

      The Commissioners said that they had planned on the lawsuits being filed in groups so they wouldn’t be done all at the same time. The Treasurer said that they had always filed them all together. She feels that the Commissioners have “kicked the rug out from under her” in a number of things and asked the Commissioners to wait until the December 1st date to keep things fair and consistent with what the public had been told by the Treasurer’s office.” And, the final word was: “Chairman Endicott said he would talk with Mr. Meara and ask him to hold off on filing anything until December 1st.”

      OK, am I only one that understood the cutoff for paying one’s delinquent taxes to be Dec. 1? After that date, per the statutes – laws of the State of Kansas, ALL delinquent taxes that accrued after that date, ALL interest and ALL fees MUST BE paid in order to redeem the property. December 2nd is after December 1sr on my calendar but, perhaps, they saved a buck at the county because not everyone was paying their fair share and bought calendars that were “seconds” and some of the days were in the wrong place – that’s all I can come up with??????

    2. Cecilia: I disagree with you. If you look at the statute, it says the redemption period begins when the property is bid-off to the county (the sale) and for homesteads, runs for 3 years and for 2006 that should have been, I think, around September 2007 when the names were published in the newspaper and add 3 years and you get about September 2010. This would be fair because everyone can be 3 years which means that if an auction was not held that year, they would still be required to catch up totally after that date. I believe that they are applying this statute improperly. This makes sense to me because the date would be set in stone or newspaper I guess so that there would be no question that any favoritism was involved and also, with that certain date, after that date, the county begins to incur costs related to getting the property ready for the sale which involves work at the Treasurer’s Office prior to passing to the attorney which runs up more expense prior to being filed at the court which is even more expense. This disaster can never be made fair as we passed that possibility years ago or so it certainly looks! What about the people who had their properties auctioned that did not know about the “payment plan”? What about someone else that did not have their name published in 2006 so gets 3 extra years over someone who is getting their property sold in January? There is a reason we have laws!

  3. Why is the world would the county commissioners make the decisions that we are paying her to know and do? I am sure this should be looked at, if it were legal, then why was it even questionable ?

    1. I know, I know! Election comes up next year and the commissioners become the bad guys if the decision is made by them.

    2. I think you may be mis-interpreting what happened. The County Treasurer had a valid question in asking if the property could be partially redeemed. There are legal issues, but also procedural issues in the way things occur. This money was paid after the cut off but before that particular piece of paper work had been filed with the court.

      Since it has been more than three years, this probably doesn’t matter, but it was still a valid question and to let the Commissioners know about the situation which they will probably be hearing about from the individual.

      1. Mark: Seriously, I believe I understand what was going down. I believe the law is specific as to not allow a “good ole’ boy” network to operate!

        1. Mark: Do you have the statute on the “procedural” process because I did not find one. Is it a written local procedure? Would a local procedure that went against the statute be legal? I do believe that a local procedure or law can be more restrictive but not more loose.

          1. My point about procedure is that you can say that the foreclosure cases will be filed with the court by November 1. However that doesn’t mean that the court is actually going to have time to file them. It is possible that they could not be filed until November 2nd. So if someone redeems their property after the date things were given to the court, but before they were filed, can do they have to pay the court fees? Can they do a partial redemption? My point is that the law is not a computer program. It takes into consideration a great many things, but not everything. It seems totally appropriate to ask the commissioners about a situation that will most likely end up coming up in one of their meetings later on–particularly on things where it wasn’t 100% clear what should occur.

      2. Mark: I still say the redemption period for 2006 ended last year on September 1, 2010 when it had been 3 years since the property was bid-off (the sale) so December 1 or 2 doesn’t really make a difference and I believe the law was specific as to not allow for cheating. The requirement for publication is 3 times in August I believe so properties are bid off by September 1. I cannot believe that no one else sees this and why it is written that way. Even if it wasn’t filed with the court, which it should have been, WE, the taxpayers that are being ripped off, still end up covering the costs of the added work that went into the preparation up to the point before it was filed and then, next year, that person can do the same thing running to the Treasurer’s Office at the last minute to pay (most of us would not know when that was?) and we cover the his costs up to that point. Do you seriously think this is what the law would provide? I don’t think so. I also think that legal questions are not being answered out of the AG’s Office until the investigation is finished which is becoming very apparent because questions are being ran through the commissioners and a tax date not set, etc.

  4. Cathy, sounds like the county treasurer has messed up again on what she has promised people as to when they had to pay. This is not fair what she has done and all of the taxpayers should call and voice their opinion on this. She took this taxpayers money on a Friday which is commission day, and the day after she told everyone that the cut off date was Dec. 1st. so why did she wait until today a week later to ask the commissioners if it was ok. Some one is having to pay that court cost and guess who that is? US AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. Maybe she spent a week debating on whether or not to mention it? Two thumbs up for the commissioners in following what was agreed upon as a date and the law!

  5. Hope the commissioners realize that they are going to have to tighten their belt and suck it up as far as the budget is concerned. Or maybe ask Susan Quick to pay for the audit herself, considering the fact that one wouldn’t have been needed if she followed the law. Really tired of carrying those that feel it’s ok to not pay your taxes, and then we get socked/soaked with mill levy increases.

  6. Mark I would just like to let everyone know the Bourbon County Public Works takes used oil. We have an oil burning furnace that heats the shop.

  7. I can’t believe they are going to go through with this tax sale until they get the report from the AG. It also seems that many issues and laws are as clear as mud to the County so why continue to make errors? The date should have been September 1 and not December 1 and I wonder IF the County Treasurer sent letters to those with delinquent taxes past the 3 years letting them know the date was December 1 or if only those in the Friends and Family were aware of this. Isn’t it true that in the past, they would let them just catch up one year even up to the date of the auction? I realize this was breaking the law and I do not understand why the County chose to do this but they did and it was the accepted practice. So, I wonder what the gentleman who paid on the 2nd was actually told and was it his error or yet another by the County Treasurer leading the citizens astray? Seriously, if she took his money and told him it was going to be OK and now his property goes to auction and, those not published for those years that he were paying still have not been published…………..was he published? In my opinion, they should have nailed the door shut on that office when it became apparent that the law was being broken and not opened until they were clear on what the law said and everyone was either on the curb or on board with following the law. There is no way to make this fair. So many people being punished for the errors and law breaking of the County Treasurer and she still sits in the office?

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