Macomb County in Michigan has a long-standing policy of not foreclosing on occupied homes of people who fail to pay their property taxes. That is likely to change, however, thanks to a failure on the part of these homeowners to pay even with payment plan options, says country treasurer Ted Wahby, who believes that his staff is spending too much time “acting as bill collectors for people on negotiated payment plans”[1]. The staff may visit homes personally or make phone calls in an effort to get in touch with delinquent homeowners, but the money is still not coming in. And although the county currently offers a hardship deferral program whose participants currently owe a total of more than $2.5 million in property taxes, the total amount that the county is owed in delinquencies is more like $30 million. Although Wahby has stated that the “government is here to serve and not punish,” he wants to do away with the leeway granted to delinquent homeowners not in the hardship program. Extra efforts from county staff to track down non-participating, delinquent homeowners in the county would cease and those properties would go to auction.
This seems like it might be a reasonable decision on the part of the county treasurer. Do you agree or disagree? How hard is it to get into a hardship program in your area?
Thank you for reading REJournalOnline!
Let us know what you think about foreclosure due to property tax delinquencies in the space below.
[1] http://www.freep.com/article/20110706/NEWS05/107060334/Macomb-County-considers-ending-foreclosure-reprieve-occupied-homes
July 6th, 2011 at 8:57 AM
people with jobs pay taxes - sue the government for sending our jobs and our money overseas to be used against us
July 6th, 2011 at 10:39 AM
I’d like to offer these people help. I may not be able to stop the tax foreclosure process if the county decides to pursue that, but I may be able to help by offering to purchase the tax-delinquent property so that at least the homeowner will walk away with something after loosing their home.
July 6th, 2011 at 12:47 PM
Property taxes need to be OUTLAWED. We need a flat tax. And several gov’t positions need to be eliminated. Sorry, but this tax crap is just way out of hand. Here’s the problem: people in the real world are getting the hammer. The jack*** in charge of this situation doesn’t want to join the party so he can keep his lofty paycheck. Outcome? You lose your house.