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by Paul Bass | Apr 16, 2010 1:04 pm

(12) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: City Hall, Housing

After discovering that the DeStefano administration has ignored an order to help them stop foreclosures, aldermen are pushing for a 30-day moratorium on the city moving to take people’s homes.

The discovery took place this week at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Tax Abatement Committee.

The committee called city Tax Collector Maurine Villani before it to discuss city foreclosures. The committee’s chairman, Michael Smart (pictured) of Wooster Square, recently discovered that the city is foreclosing on two of his constituents’ homes; one of the foreclosure sales is scheduled for May 22. Villani never told him about it. Under a May 18, 2009, aldermanic order, Villani’s office is supposed to let aldermen know when the city has filed for foreclosure against their constituents, so the aldermen can work with the homeowners to get help keeping their houses.

At Wednesday night’s committee hearing, aldermen learned that Villani hasn’t been telling anyone.

Melissa Bailey Photo So the committee voted for a proposal to stop the city from filing any new foreclosure suits or following through on already-filed suits on homeowner-occupied properties for 30 days while this all gets sorted out. The measure comes before the full Board of Aldermen Monday night. Morris Cove Alderwoman Arlene DePino (pictured) introduced the proposal.

The aldermen plan to seek unanimous consent for the proposal Monday night—meaning it could pass that night rather than spend weeks or months in committee.

“A lot of these [suits affect] seniors” who don’t know about help they can get, Michael Smart said. “A lot of people have been charged penalties [once the suits get filed].” He called the city’s failure to comply with the order “very disrespectful to the taxpayers and the Board of Aldermen.”

Smart had also asked Villani before the meeting to let the aldermen know how many foreclosures the city has filed since December. She didn’t have that information. The committee did receive a 25-page list of tax delinquencies, properties on which foreclosure suits could take place if people don’t pay up soon. The list had about 900 properties.

Asked why she hadn’t complied with the order to notify aldermen about pending foreclosures in their wards, Villani Thursday referred questions to mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga.

“There was a bit of a delay when she came on board” last year as tax collector, Mayorga said. “There was a bit of an IT [information technology] problem” as well.

Thursday Villani was already “meeting with the appropriate individuals to see what needs to be changed,” according to Mayorga. “She is fully aware of it and is working to mitigate it as we speak.”

Mayorga said the city didn’t have a position yet on the pending 30-day moratorium proposal.

West Rock Alderman Darnell Goldson said the city should focus the same kind of attention on preventing its own foreclosure actions as it does on preventing foreclosures by private lenders. The DeStefano administration formed a foreclosure-fighting task force called The ROOF Project with Yale Law School and the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund.

“We’re doing hundreds of foreclosures a year. Why doesn’t ROOF have a coordinated effort to deal with these?” Goldson asked. “They don’t. They’re not going out of their way to figure out how to help, especially the seniors.”

ROOF Program Manager Eva Heintelzman said the walk-in clients the groups sees sometimes include people being foreclosed upon by the city. She said ROOF advises that they “work closely with the tax office.” She said the tax collector’s office is “generally willing to work” with people.

Meanwhile, the Tax Abatement Committee has scheduled a second hearing on this subject for April 26. Villani is scheduled to return, with more answers, and some back-up: the city’s controller, tax assessor, and corporation counsel are scheduled to accompany her.

Comments

posted by: politicians gone wild on April 16, 2010 1:08pm

King John is outa control.

posted by: Tribe on April 16, 2010 1:37pm

This is what happens when you have inexperienced, no qualifications Tax Collectors. Nor do they have any respect for authority.

posted by: Tribe on April 16, 2010 1:48pm

IT (computer) problems what a bunch of excuses! get real.

posted by: Darnell on April 16, 2010 1:49pm

It should be noted that Alderman Charles Blango was the original sponsor of the order, and has been the driving force behind this issue.

Also, this order was passed 10 months ago, in May 2009. The current Tax Collector was working in the office then, though not as the head of the office. She was also informed of the order in December 2009, and still has not followed the order. How difficult is it to determine which ward each house is in, and subsequently which alderman? The city’s own website allows you to write in an address to determine who your alderman is, so the technology is already in place. At the very least, she could have signed into the city website to find the information. The easier, and more truthful answer would have been for her to say “I screwed up”, and we would have moved on.

posted by: Jon Smitherson on April 16, 2010 2:32pm

The entire article and name blame game is a joke. Villani has been doing a job well done, given the state of disarray the previous collector had left the department in.

Foreclosures would not be an issue if the tax payer would simply pay their taxes. If a financial hardship is imposed, they are given the opportunity for a payment plan. How hard is it to acknowledge a letter and make a call to the department? Tax payers with complete and utter disregard for bills that are associated with owning a home have no business owning a home.

I’m going on a hunch here, but I’m willing to bet as with any job, when a new person takes on a new position, it takes some time to learn what needs to be done and when. To say there was a delay and to blame “other” departments, is a full fledge crock. I’ll bet the old tax collector never provided this iformation as well. Can someone prove otherwise?

And to say that alot of these folks are “seniors” who don’t know they can get help, well, as a taxpayer who has been late on a payment due to an error on my part, I have received my letter from the tax office and it CLEARLY STATED MY OPTIONS before I EVER GOT TO THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS. I was intelligent enough TO READ the letter I received, rather than throw it away and cry to my alderperson!

posted by: Been Called Worse on April 16, 2010 4:20pm

Tribe hits the nail on the head regarding computer problems as just an excuse. The tax department runs reports daily, and generating a list is either a menu option or a phone call (to IT) away. Feel free to verify for yourself, the software is HTE (now Sunguard) Financials & HR software.

And an agency head deferring to the mayoral spokesperson during a council committee meeting? ... I’ve seen people get fired for as much. Well, not in New Haven of course.

posted by: A Taxpayer on April 16, 2010 7:17pm

Jon, I normally do not participate in debates here, but I can’t let your comment go unanswered. The point isn’t whether or not the people should or should not own homes, that is not your or mine decision to make. The point is that the Aldermen passed an order to a department to provide information, and that order was not followed. This dept head may or may not have known about it when she first took over in June ‘09, but she was contacted in December by aldermanic staff about the order, and acknowledged in writing that she was aware of it. So why hasn’t she corrected the problem in the 4 months since she has known about it.

Stop making excuses for this woman by trying to shift the blame.

posted by: Get Real on April 17, 2010 4:40pm

Darnell

You are being polite. You know department heads do exactly as Johnny boy commands. Ask why is he doing it.

posted by: Morris Cove Mom on April 18, 2010 6:24pm

If this is another underhanded, illegal move by John DeStefano to collect taxes, then I say…how to we commit mutiny in New Haven? How do we impeach, oust, or outright fire this man? We cannot have this type of bold action committed, going directly against what our aldermen and city have decided. One man does not get to rule absolutely. Because absolute power corrupts absolutely. Let’s stop this today.

posted by: asdf on April 19, 2010 7:25am

wow—this seems overblown on all sides.

Yes, the aldermanic board passed a rule that requires notification of the alderperson before foreclosure and no, the tax collector has not abided by the rule. I’m willing to assume it was a mistake and she will now follow procedure.

As for the “victims” here, it takes a considerable amount of non-payment of taxes to get foreclosed on, so this simply isn’t a mix-up of paperwork. It may be, however, someone who has been priced out of their own homes by the ever-creeping taxes in New Haven. Our property taxes have more than doubled in the 5 years we have lived here.

If you want to rebel, don’t take it out on the tax collector. She is doing a job to insure the city gets its money—the alternative to collecting taxes owed, may be to raise property taxes again. Instead, you may want to direct your ire toward the city government (including the aldermen), who have raised taxes to a point where many (by no means all that don’t pay taxes, however) have been priced out of their own homes.

posted by: A Taxpayer on April 19, 2010 9:15am

I wish people would get their facts straight before they commented as experts. ASDF, it does not take a considerable amount of non payment to get foreclosed on, in fact a majority of those folks are being taken to court for a little over a $1000. One 85 yr old senior, who had already paid the mortgage on her home, was paying taxes of $350 a month with an income of $700. Half of her income was going to property taxes alone. That is outrageous.

posted by: Tribe on April 19, 2010 11:26am

Not only is “Have Been Called Worse” correct about the IT issue but does anyone realize that the Tax Collector was the one that used to monitor the City’s Tax Foreclosures on a full time basis before she became the tax Collector. Wow, then when asked she didn’t have an answer on how many foreclosures for taxes the city has going on. Something wrong with this picture. As far as IT issues, the City’s IT department can track foreclosures by ward, street,census-track which can be done on a daily basis if need be. The Board of Aldermen are right on this one, get an answer to all your questions.

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