NORWICH – Assessment errors found on properties under bankruptcy protection prompted a discussion about property tax collections at Monday’s meeting of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors.
The board approved refunds totaling $700 to the Town of Greene on behalf of two individuals who had filed for bankruptcy. In all, lawmakers refunded $5,000 based on a variety of assessment errors from small claims court corrections to missed senior exemptions.
With the poor economy resulting in an elevated number of parcels in arrears from past years, supervisors are concerned about property taxes that schools, villages and towns may be unable to collect on their levies. Chenango County is obligated to make up the difference for local entities and then collects the amount back after a four or five-year period through annual sealed bid sales of delinquent properties.
Town of Preston Supervisor Peter C. Flanagan asked the board whether anyone was keeping track of the number of properties in receivership and being shielded from foreclosure, and for how long. “Some of these have gone on for years and years,” he said.
Using data received from the county treasurer’s office, Flanagan estimated there were 100 such delinquent properties in the county, about $500,000 that was currently owed and another $100,000 of partial payments received that can’t be officially recorded.
Chenango County Attorney Richard Breslin said a few individuals abuse what he called an “absurd” bankruptcy protection system, but he assured Flanagan that the county is “eventually” made whole.
“A few individuals, in my opinion, have abused the system. But it is the system,” he said.
According to Treasurer William C. Craine, there were 2,186 identified parcels with delinquent 2010 taxes as of Oct. 31, 2010. The number has grown from 1,841 back in 2007. The county board estimates covering about $4 million in uncollected property taxes for municipalities and districts this year.
There are 31,800 parcels in Chenango County.