Below are two lists of property owners from 2008 and 2009 who had unpaid taxes (at the time this report was run) but were not properly published in the paper. Since the bid off process was not started, the county has never begun the redemption period so the properties will not be able to go to auction until the redemption period has expired from the date that the properties are published in the paper. As Mr. Meara has pointed out, given the interest rate, there would be no economic benefit to delay payment on these taxes.

Since the point in time that this list was created from the computer system, several individuals have come in and paid their taxes. Others may do so before the list is actually published in the paper. Those properties will not be listed when the publication does occur, so it should be expected that whatever is eventually published would only be a subset of the names listed here.

These two lists are fro 2007 taxes that should have been published in 2008 and 2008 taxes that should have been published in 2009.  Mr. Meara has a similar list of properties that were not published when they should have been in 2007 for 2006 taxes. In last weeks meeting he said there were 17 to 25 names on that list.  The clerks office said that Mr. Meara has another list from 2007 taxes that should have been published in 2008, however he did not mention those numbers at the commissioner’s meeting unless they were included in the 17 to 25 count.

2008

• Adams, Keshon
• Allen Contracting Co
• Auxier, David
• Bolling, Austin W
• Bower, Jason D x 2
• Bowman, Jonathan Dru & Cynthia
• Church, Carla D
• Cook, Kenneth D FS lot ($224.99)
• Delaney, Ronald L
• Derr, Jake
• Fleeman, Carl Wayne
• Foss, Earl x 2
• Foster, Libby x 2
• Harvest Ministries x 2
• Hemphill, Bruce E
• Home Solutions Partners x 2
• Kline Products of KS Inc
• Linker, Raymond C
• Loly, Elva
• May, Frances I
• McGinnis, Bonnie FS07367
• McPherson, August
• Meeks, Justin x 2
• Paulk, George
• Pulliam, Frank D
• Quick, Rodger M
• Quick, Thomas D
• Reed, Larry
• Robison, Charles W
• Schaub, Troy J x 2
• Sharp, Ruth P
• Tinsley, Mike x 2
• Weddle, Marvin A
• White, Vance & Christine
• Wilson, Clint A

2009

Tax Sale

The county has compared the list of people who owe taxes from 2008 and 2009 who were not published in the paper and still have unpaid taxes. There were 35 names from 2008 and 50 from 2009. Some of the names have multiple properties. One has 8 properties with unpaid taxes. There are a total of 43 properties from 2008 and 75 from 2009 that were not published and still had unpaid taxes when the report was run. During the commission meeting several properties were identified where the taxes had been paid since the report had been run.

Since the publication in the newspaper is what triggers the bid off, the properties have yet to start the redemption period. For homestead property, this is three years from the date of publication. For non-homestead property the redemption period is two years.

Attorney General & County Treasurer

The commissioners have not heard anything back from the Attorney General about the investigation into the allegations against the Bourbon County Treasurer. Their understanding was that the Attorney General’s office would get back to them and let them know if it was going to be pursued further or not. They expected to have heard something back by now, but pointed out that with all the other things the Attorney General deals with, this might not be the highest priority.

Are the overpaid taxes being refunded?

Currently the commissioners do not have a copy of the details that Terry Sercer compiled. They only have the report which we posted here. Typically the county refunds overpayments for other types of fees if it is more than $5.

The commissioners are hesitant to request the information from Mr. Sercer until they hear back from the Attorney General. If the Attorney General is pursuing an investigation, they don’t want to have information released to the public that could compromise his efforts.

Is there any effort to pursue recovering the taxes/interest that was not charged correctly? (Under KSA 79-1703).

Not at this point, but this couldn’t be done until the Attorney General is finished with his investigation.

Is it possible to get the details of the audit report?

The details showing which properties have over paid and which properties have underpaid their interest is not something that the Commissioners currently have. The Commissioners don’t want to request this information from Mr. Sercer until they hear back from the Attorney General.

Has there been any effort to ask the Attorney General about the status?

Chairman Endicott wasn’t sure of the date, but said that within the past few weeks Terri Johnson (County Attorney) called to ask the Attorney General’s office about the status and was told that they didn’t have any record of a request for an investigation on the matter. She sent them another copy of the letter and then followed up with them. Again they did not have any record of the request.  She faxed it to them and immediately called them back and they then confirmed that they had received it.

Rock Quarry

There was some discussion about how to move the registration from the former rock quarry to the new quarry and also some discussion about the blasting at the new facility.

Sewer District

John Scott is going to use his house as a distribution point for the manuals and warranty information for the grinder pumps in the new sewer district. He was concerned because the paper work said it was a 2 year warranty, but when they were deciding which pumps to buy they selected the more expensive pumps because they had a longer warranty.

There is one home where the grinder pump is coming into a basement too high and there was some discussion about how to go about getting it fixed.

Misc

At least two commissioners are going to the Neosho County rock quarry to view their operation at 9am. They will also be at the Airport Advisory meeting at 12 noon on Tuesday.

An individual asked if they were going to pave 180th street. He said there were a lot of dump trucks coming through and tearing it up.

Mr. Meara came through with a cart with all the tax foreclosure cases. He was taking them up to file in court. He wanted to show he commissioners what 193 foreclosure cases looked like.

Potholes

Jennifer Miller-Connet works for Fort Scott broadcasting and lives in Vernon County. She says she was headed into Bourbon County at 4 am to open Radio Shack up for Black Friday. She hit potholes that caused $803 worth of damage near the state line. She feels like as a tax payer the road should have been taking care off. She said there was no way to drive around the holes.

Chairman Endicott asked how many miles were on her car. She said 125,000 miles and that the car is a low riding Mazda Protege. She felt that there should be some type of compensation from the county. The commissioners said that she should file an insurance claim and the insurance company would make a determination.

Roads

The commissioners decided to buy 50 culverts from Judy’s Iron and Metal. The rock crusher came in Monday. They are looking at getting a couple Ricoh G700 SE GPS cameras to give to the road crews to take photos of things that can be placed on the GPS maps. The cost of the two cameras will come to $2,901. The county has sold some data to a mapping company so the funds are available for the purchase.

They are also planning on buying a label gun to put labels on signs so if one is found in the ditch, the county will know where it came from.

The date for the lawsuit related to the sewer district has been bumped back. The County Attorney pointed out that this is an existing case–not a new lawsuit. They date has been bumped back as further discovery is done and it is expected that it won’t actually go to court until next year.

Tax Sale

Mr. Meara came back at 10:30. Defendants of foreclosure lawsuits that live in KS will be notified by the sheriff. Defendants out of state will be notified by certified letter. Everything has been filed that Mr. Meara was given that was possible to file. He is going to give the commissioners a list of the properties that have not yet been published and that he was unable to file. Those will need to be published. There may be some from 2008 and 2009 that need to be published as well.

Mr. Meara said there were 17 to 25 properties that were not published in 2007. He said that it was probably just an oversight on the part of the Treasure’s office and that there didn’t appear to be any pattern. They did not appear to all be payment plan properties.

Terri Johnson (County Attorney) said it appears that the redemption period starts at the date of publication and that the publication must occur for the property to be property “bid off.” So properties that were not published for 2007 taxes will need to be published before the three year redemption period can begin. Commissioner Endicott said that it didn’t seem right that someone could have not paid their taxes for three years and then they get another three years if they were left out of the publication. The law does allow for there to be errors and omissions in the publication. However, this allowance seems to be more aimed at preventing people from saying their property was improperly foreclosed on due to a printing smudge or mistake and may offer less protection for the county if proper procedure wasn’t followed.

Partial redemption cannot be invoked once the county files the foreclosure. So once the county files the foreclosure paperwork, those properties must have their taxes, fees, and interest paid in full in order to avoid a tax sale.

There was some discussion as to whether or not a non-homestead property could be partially redeemed before the county files for foreclosure. The scenario would be a business that had unpaid taxes since 2007 that paid their 2007 taxes in order to remove it from foreclosure lawsuits that Mr. Meara filed this morning. The statutes appear to only mention partial redemption under the section that applies to homestead properties. The other sections seem to indicate that once a property is bid off to the county, the entire amounted owed on that property must be paid in order to avoid foreclosure. It appears that non-homestead properties have been allowed to partial redemption in the past and the attorneys were not clear if the statues indeed prohibit partial redemptions for non-homestead properties. They are going to look into it to see.

Clarifications

The lawsuit summons from last week was not a new lawsuit.

Executive sessions

Back in October, we looked at whether or not an executive session was illegal. Part of the argument was that attorney client privilege can only be used when no one other than the client is present.  The County Attorney gave me a copy of Attorney General Opinion 92-56. The opinion relates to KPERS, but it does establish that the “client” can include any employee or elected official off the county.

With regard to whether KPERS staff or investment managers may be present in an executive session called pursuant to K.S.A. 75 – 4319(b)(2), K.S.A. 60-426 addresses the attorney client privilege and subsection (c) of that statute recognizes that this privilege may extend to staff or officials of a corporate client. K.S.A. 74-4903 creates the KPERS as “a body corporate. . . .” Thus, KPERS staff meet the definition of client. Such staff may therefore be permissibly present during an executive session without destroying the attorney-client privilege.

So the executive session was legal from the standpoint of falling within attorney/client privilege and our suggestion that the County Treasurer  wasn’t allowed in the meeting was based on a misunderstanding of whether Attorney Dan Meara was representing the Commissioners or the County. Since he is representing the County, any County employee or official can be present.

Special thanks to County Attorney Terri Johnson for taking the time to explain this and point out the section of the Attorney General’s Opinion.

Unpaid Taxes

On November 15th, we looked at some of the other forms of unpaid taxes in the county. I had a few people point out that some of the businesses listed with unpaid taxes have been sold and are owned by different owners now. So don’t stop supporting someone just because the business name is on the list. It might be the previous owners who didn’t remit their sales tax to the state.

The Commissioners and Marty discussed the roads. There was some discussion with the County Attorney about an antenna to be mounted on a water tower and how to handle the electrical meter.

Lawsuit Summons

The commissioners were served some papers regarding a civil suit with the sewer district. The County Attorney said that the lawsuit revolves around actions taken by the commissioners under 1927A 01.

Generator

At 10am Allen Warren moved $46,079 to purchase a generate from Cummings. The generator will be used to power the rock conveyers at the quarry. Chairman Endicott seconded it. A second motion was made to finance the purchase at a rate of 4% through Citizen’s Bank. Barry tractor offered a rate of 3.99%, but the Commissioners decided that with such a small difference, they should keep the note local.

Vacation

There was some discussion about the county vacation schedule. Since New Years day falls on a Sunday, the County should be closed Monday, January 2nd.  Instead New Years Day was listed as being taken on December 27th — the day after Christmas.

Tax Sale and Convenience Store

Marty Rivers with Eagle Fuels wants to buy the convenience stores at either end of town. He asked to visit with the commissioners about the taxes. He talked to the people who had the first mortgage and Tom Hill. He wondered if he paid a lump sum payment if some of the taxes could be dropped.  Commissioner Warren said that the only way the Commissioners could drop some of the property taxes or interest is if the bankruptcy court works out an agreement with the commissioners.

One of the pieces of property is 2191 Soldier Rd. It has unpaid taxes back to 2006. Mr. Rivers asked if he could pay part of the taxes to keep them from going to the tax sale. He was informed that the current tax sale only covers property that is delinquent from 2007 and prior so if he were to pay the taxes through 2007, the properties would be pulled off the tax sale. It was mentioned that only homestead properties can be partially redeemed and once a non-homestead property was delinquent and sold to the county, the entire amount of due taxes must be paid to keep it off of the sale.

Mr. Rivers was told that from a procedural standpoint, paying through 2007 would buy him some time before the properties that were delinquent from 2008 could be sold.

Mr. Rivers bought the gas station near Frontenac and leased it out to a local person who has been running it. He hopes to do the same thing with the stations in Fort Scott.

County Attorney’s Parking Spot

Keith Jeffers wants to take County Attorney Terri Johnson’s parking spot and put in a storage shed. The shed will be paid for by a grant for emergency preparedness.  He is working on getting a grant to put in a generator. The Commissioner’s approved to buy the building and put it on Terri Johnson’s parking lot. They plan to assign her a different spot.

Dump Account

James Maine and Kimberly Alexander want to setup an account at the dump. They have a contract to do demolition on several trailers at the KOA camp from Jeff Michael. They want to be able take the debris to the dump and use the money from selling the scrap metal to pay the dump fees. The commissioners decided to give them a small amount of credit with the dump so they can proceed.

The only person listed on the agenda at the start of the meeting was Marty giving the road report at 9 am and opening sealed bids for a generator at 10 am.

Roads Report

The Slick Rock Bridge project is going to incur an expense of $167,000. The $167,000 will be reimbursed by the Kansas T-Works program. However, the county needs to come up with the $167,000 payment to get the work done before the county can be reimbursed. The commissioners and the clerk determined that there was enough money available.

The current timeline looks like the bridge will take 5 months to build.

One of the county high loaders is using over a gallon of oil each day. It will cost $3,895 in parts to do a rebuild on the engine if the county does it themselves. A new engine would cost $20,200. The commissioners looked over different quotes and options. There was quite a bit of discussion regarding what would be most cost effective.

A citizen called in to ask how to go about protesting their taxes. Commissioner Warren conferred with the Clerk and told them they would need to speak with the Treasurer’s department who would help them setup a review with the county appraiser.

Fences

A citizen came in and asked about who is responsible for maintaining a fence between property when one piece of the property is in the CRP program. The commissioners said there is a $7.50 charge per commissioners to do a “fence viewing” where the Commissioners will come out and meet with both owners and then decree which owner is responsible for which part of the fence.

There was some discussion about how property boundaries works. Commissioner Coleman said that if you discover your neighbor has built a fence that is on your property, you have 15 years from the time it was discovered to correct the problem. Otherwise the fence becomes the new property line.

The citizen had to pick which two commissioners he wanted to have view the fence. Commissioner Coleman suggested that he choose Commissioner Warren and Chairman Endicott–even though that meant he would forgo the lucrative $7.50 payment for his service.

Generator Bids

There was a bid opening at 10 am for a generator. Commissioner Endicott had five sealed bids. They ranged from $46,079 to $92,500. The Commissioners decided to wait to review the bids before awarding the contract.

GPS/GIS Changing Acreage

Kansas Senator Bob Marshall came in at 10:00 to see what was going on and see what they though of the economic forum in Iola yesterday.

He wanted to talk about citizen Gary Harper who was concerned that his acreage has changed due to the GPS and the assessor process, but there has been no change to the deed. Senator Marshall said that if the assessed acreage changed, it needs to be changed on the deed. Mr Harper joined the conversation and Judy Orr was asked to come up to discuss the issue.

Senator Marshall asked whether or not GPS had been approved to be used for appraisals. Mr. Harper said that he had a 4.5 acre piece of property that has grown to 5.7 acres according to the appraiser’s office.

Senator Marshall pointed out that people can end up paying taxes on their property for years, but when they go to sell it, they can only sell it for the amount on the deed.

Shane Walker (Bourbon County GIS Coordinator) explained that the older maps were not “ortho rectified”. This means they didn’t take into consideration the curves in the land. So  the amount of land may change because the property isn’t flat. He said that sometimes a 1,000 foot line on the old maps would turn into a 1,021 foot line.

Mr. Walker said that Mr. Harper’s property change had to do with the way the old maps were made and that instead of measuring to the middle of the river, the old maps just went to the edge of the bank. He also said that years ago land was recorded in an “Atlas Book” and in some cases what was actually sold was very different from what the person thought they had. So the “Atlas Book” may have recorded the land as 80 acres, but in some cases it might have only been 60 acres.

After Mr. Harper and Senator Marshall left Judy Orr (County Appraiser) came in with the deed in question. She read it and most of the measurements in the legal description said things like “about 20 rods more or less.” Shane Walker said that he had seen some descriptions that said, “to the big rock in the middle of the river” or even “to the big oak tree.”

Emergency Preparedness

Keith Jefferies (Bourbon County Emergency Manager) talked about some of the emergency preparedness that is taking place. He also said that there is a red flag fire warning today and has placed several public service announcements letting people know that they should not burn. They are working on organizing a deployable mortuary system staffed with volunteers.

County Treasurer

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.

She said that waiting until December 1st is legal and that is the way they have always done it. Commissioner Allen said that “this is a new day.” It was brought up that the tax statements said to pay Bourbon County Treasurer Susan Quick. The Commissioners asked why this had changed. Ms. Quick said that this is how it has always been and asked,”Do you think I’m stupid enough to take the checks that are made out to me and cash them?”

She said she would change it next year to just say Bourbon County Treasurer.

Chairman Endicott said he would talk with Mr. Meara and ask him to hold off on filing anything until December 1st.

The Treasurer said that she has collected $58,938 in back taxes since October. She also said that the properties that are not homesteads can be sold one year sooner than the other properties. Joanne Long said that in the past they have only sold properties after 3 years in order to avoid difficulties in determining what is homestead and what is not.

The Treasurer said that all the money in escrow accounts from the payment plan has been applied to the taxes. Commissioner Warren asked if anyone was still on the payment plan. Ms. Quick said that it had been discontinued and no one is currently on the payment plan. Ms. Quick said, no one is being held off of the tax sale.

She gave the commissioners a list of $231,000 in taxes from properties from 2008. They asked for the same report for 2009 and 2010.

So November 30th is the last day people can pay taxes to avoid being on the tax sale. After this point, the property cannot be partially redeemed and the entire amount of unpaid taxes must be paid to prevent a sale.

 

 

What is the Extension category?

The “extension” category goes to the Southwind Extension District which appears to fund some of the local Extension Offices. In the past, the extension office was only funded by the state and wasn’t paid for by a separate local levy, but now it is.

What is the Other category?

The “other” category is what funds Fort Scott Community College. Sometimes in the past this was labelled as FSCC. The change was due to differences in the way the computer systems handle creating the statements.

How do I protest my taxes?

The County Treasurer’s office has Payment Under Protest Applications. These allow you to pay first half of the property taxes. The protest must be filed by December 20th. The County Appraiser will schedule an informal hearing. After the hearing the County Appraise will notify the citizen of the results. If the citizen wants to further contest the appraisal, they can file an appeal with the Small Claims and Expedited Hearing Division or through the Regular Division of the State Court of Tax Appeals.

Why do we make checks out to Susan Quick County Treasurer?

The Treasurer wanted to make sure the everyone knew that the money doesn’t go to her personally. The instructions on how to pay have been this way for years, so there has been no change in this matter.

 

The Bourbon County Real Estate Tax Statements are starting to arrive and most people are going to see an increase in property taxes this year because of several mill levy increases. The County Commissioners have noted that if all the taxes due were paid, it is likely that the county wouldn’t have needed to raise the mill levy.

But property taxes aren’t the only form of income from the local government. Here is a list from the Kansas Department of Revenue of warrants for some of the other types of unpaid taxes.

Just in Bourbon County, there are over $600,000 in unpaid taxes. Now not all of this money would go to local governments. For example, the bulk of sales tax goes to the state. However, Kansas sales tax has gone up in recent years to deal with revenue shortfall just like the local government bodies have had to raise property taxes.

One of the biggest concerns from this list is that most of these taxes are either sales taxes or witholding taxes. That means they were actually collected from people–most likely Bourbon County citizens–and not remitted to the government. When the government didn’t get the taxes it needed, it had to raise taxes. So in effect, many locals have had to pay taxes twice. Once when it was collected as sales tax for a local purchase and again when the property taxes and sales taxes went up.

Certain types of taxes being unpaid can lead to prison terms for tax fraud which means that the local citizens may end up paying a third time by taxes that are going to cover keeping someone in prison. The best figures I could find for Kansas seem to estimate that it costs about $24,000 per year to keep someone in prison.

Government works when people follow the rules. Unfortunately when some people don’t follow the rules, the costs are distributed to those who do and it is often very expensive.

COWBOYS GRILL INC 15 E. HUNTINGTON BLVD FORT SCOTT , KS 66701	SALES TAX	$104,963.35
THOMAS DAVIS -2175 927 S HOLBROOK ST FORT SCOTT , KS 667013030	SALES TAX	$73,866.20
HAROLD E SILVERS 22 1/2 N MAIN ST FORT SCOTT , KS 667011435	SALES TAX	$44,751.65
MCKENNEY RESTORATION 1110 SCOTT AVE FORT SCOTT , KS 667012704	WITHHOLDING TAX	$43,613.63
MARK C MCKENNEY -3229 1110 SCOTT AVE FORT SCOTT , KS 66701	WITHHOLDING TAX	$43,613.63
GOOD FOOD FORT SCOTT 2503 S MAIN ST FORT SCOTT , KS 667018724	SALES TAX	$39,173.48
BRUCE RE 11221 MARTY ST OVERLAND PARK , KS 662102627	SALES TAX	$39,173.48
NICHOLS, RE, MEYERS, LLC 11221 MARTY ST OVERLAND PARK , KS 662102627	SALES TAX	$39,173.48
COWBOYS GRILL INC 15 E. HUNTINGTON BLVD FORT SCOTT , KS 66701	WITHHOLDING TAX	$36,796.98
FDBA ONLAR LLC BHUPINDER S DHILLION 101 STATE ST FORT SCOTT , KS 667011531	SALES TAX	$31,872.17
TREND ENTERPRISES INC 1804 S NATIONAL AVE FORT SCOTT , KS 667013030	SALES TAX	$27,964.88
TREND ENTERPRISES INC 1804 S NATIONAL AVE FORT SCOTT , KS 667013030	SALES TAX	$22,608.34
TREND ENTERPRISES INC 1804 S NATIONAL AVE FORT SCOTT , KS 667013030	SALES TAX	$22,418.92
FDBA ONKR LLC 101 STATE ST FORT SCOTT , KS 66067	TRANSIENT GUEST TAX	$15,895.98
STRUCTURAL FORM INC 1224 S CRAWFORD ST FORT SCOTT , KS 667012604	WITHHOLDING TAX	$14,404.52
KURT ALLEN 712 S NATIONAL AVE FORT SCOTT , KS 66701	WITHHOLDING TAX	$14,404.52
TERRY R PRUITT 1587 205TH ST FORT SCOTT , KS 667018306	SALES TAX	$9,797.97
THOMAS DAVIS -2175 927 S HOLBROOK ST FORT SCOTT , KS 667013030	WITHHOLDING TAX	$9,309.61
BRUMBACK TOWING 827 MARION FT SCOTT , KS 66701	PROPERTY VALUATION AD VALOREM	$9,300.59
STEVE BRUMBACK 827 MARION FT SCOTT , KS 66701	PROPERTY VALUATION AD VALOREM	$9,300.59
TREND ENTERPRISES INC 1804 S NATIONAL AVE FORT SCOTT , KS 667013030	WITHHOLDING TAX	$9,246.38
COWBOYS GRILL INC 15 E. HUNTINGTON BLVD FORT SCOTT , KS 66701	SALES TAX	$7,593.78
HAROLD E SILVERS 22 1/2 N MAIN ST FORT SCOTT , KS 667011435	WITHHOLDING TAX	$3,438.21
BONNIE J HAMMOND 302 BAY ST BRONSON , KS 667163058	WITHHOLDING TAX	$3,062.28
BONNIE J HAMMOND 302 BAY ST BRONSON , KS 667163058	SALES TAX	$2,934.24

There was no County Commission meeting today as the Commissioners and many other county employees and officials attended annual Kansas Association of Counties meeting in Topeka.  The theme for the event is The New Normal — Balancing Resources & Expectations.

Most homeowner’s insurance in Kansas doesn’t cover an earthquake unless you specifically add it to your policy. Since the risk is very low, most homes in the Bourbon County area can be insured against earthquake damage for a few additional dollars per month. Be aware that the way deductibles are handled for earthquakes can be different than the way it is handled for other types of damage.

Even if you want coverage, you may not be able to get it right now. At least one local insurance company is unable to write earthquake insurance today. Its underwriters refuse to issue policies in this area due to the recent tremors.  Other companies will let you add coverage with a simple phone call.

If you are unsure of your coverage, your insurance agent can let you know what your policy covers and what options you have.

 

There was a bank foreclosure sale for a single piece of property scheduled this morning at 10 am on the county court house steps, but 10 am came and went with no sale. The court house was not open because of Veterans Day and it appears that the sale was rescheduled for December 9th.

Apparently when a bank wishes to foreclose on an owner who is not paying their mortgage, they can’t simply take the property back. The bank’s position against the home must be auctioned off with the bid starting at the amount the bank is owed. If there are no buyers the property goes back to the bank and then the bank can then sell it through a realtor or through their own auction.

The county is getting ready to send out tax statements to property owners. Joanne Long said that the county sends out over 15,000 tax statements. Some properties have two statements–one that goes to the mortgage holder and one to the property owner. Property owners should see the statements sometime in the next week or so.

The taxes can also be viewed online by following this link. Type in your last name, push “find now” and then click on the “current taxes” link.