A year late, aldermen received a list of homes the city has foreclosed on — and discovered the names of 99 homeowners they didn’t get a chance to help first.
City officials gave the list out Monday night at an Aldermanic Affairs Committee meeting at City Hall.
It was the sequel to an earlier meeting, on May 18, when the aldermen discovered that the tax collector’s office hasn’t been notifying them in advance when the city plans to begin foreclosure proceedings against homeowners. Aldermen had ordered the tax collector to do so last May.
As a result, the Board of Aldermen imposed a 30-day moratorium on city foreclosures on owner-occupied homes until city officials could produce more information. The rule is intended to enable aldermen to inform constituents in danger of foreclosure about options to help them hold onto their homes.
Leonard Honeyman photo
Tax Collector Maurine Villani (at left in photo) appeared before aldermen again on Monday night with other budget officials — and with more info.
Along with the list of 99 houses in the foreclosure process, aldermen also received a list of a dozen properties that had gone through the process and been sold since the May 2009 prior notification order. One of the properties, on Dixwell Avenue, was sold even though the owner had filed for bankruptcy protection, said Wooster Square Alderman Michael Smart, the panel’s chairman.
In a tense two-hour meeting, Villani, Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden, Controller Mark Pietrosimone (at center in photo above, with Alderman Darnell Goldson at far right) and Kathleen Foster, an assistant corporation counsel, answered questions about tax collection and foreclosure practices.
“The [tax] collection rate is the highest we have had,” Pietrosimone said, citing a 98 percent collection rate for the city’s approximately 27,000 taxable properties. He said foreclosure is one way of persuading recalcitrant taxpayers to pay up.
“It works as far as collecting taxes is concerned,” he said.
The system has a built-in delay and does not immediately seek foreclosure orders against tardy taxpayers, he said. Several letters are sent, with the first notice sent around the first of October for taxes due the end of July. It takes more than a year for the process to reach foreclosure, with legal collection activity only starting five or six months after the taxes become overdue.
If taxpayers contact the tax collector’s office, they can set up a payment plan or apply for relief. There are more than 350 taxpayers now in payment plans, Villani said.
Newhallville Alderman Charles Blango, committee vice chairman, wanted to know how the tax collecting apparatus is getting the message out to taxpayers that they might be eligible for some kind of relief, either with abatements or tax freezes for certain taxpayers over 70 years old. Abatements eventually have to be paid back, while freezes do not, legislative staff told the panel.
Villani told the committee about a flyer that is supposed to be included with tax bills. The flyer, put out by the mayor’s office, explains the various programs, such as ROOF (Real Options Overcoming Foreclosures) as well programs for the blind, disabled, veterans and active duty military personnel. It also talks about payment plans.
Of the dozen aldermen seated around the table, none had ever gotten the flyer with their bill. Others around the room also said they never got one.
“This is a major issue,” said Newhallville Alderwoman Katrina Jones.
West Hills-West Rock Alderman Darnell Goldson, who is not on the committee but who attended the meeting, requested that lists of overdue taxes be given to aldermen soon after the August and February grace periods end.
He then dug into the list of foreclosures, asking why properties appraised for as much as $800,000 sold for $67,000.
The city only bids the amount it is owed and sometimes, as with the Dixwell property where the bankruptcy had been filed, the city gets the property, Villani said.
After Villani and Pietrosimone had left, Bolden called it problematic that the aldermen had the right to demand the 30-day freeze. “The Board of Aldermen does not have the authority to order the tax collector not to do it,” he said. But “I am not aware of any foreclosures since it was passed,” he added..
A frustrated Smart (pictured) asked if the board “had any teeth” or was just there to be ignored.
Smart said he “hoped so” when asked after the meeting if there really was a moratorium after Bolden’s statement. We expect it to be but “there were more questions than answers today,” he said. Many of the questions about procedures and rules were asked of the city officials and answers were promised.
Smart said there was little time to waste to keep people in their homes.
“We need to get with these folks and identify if they are elderly or qualify for tax abatement. We could get them in and try to figure out where in the bankruptcy process they were,” he said.
“The whole intent of the order was to make sure that none [no foreclosures] were approved,” he said. He said he was confident that the committee members would be notified 30 days before foreclosure actions commenced.
“We need to go through the list and find out where they are. Some of the committee members want to see taxpayers get a refund because policies were not followed. The order that said that the alderperson be notified before any foreclosure wasn’t followed” he said.
“I think you have a lot of alderpeople who are really concerned about their constituents. They know people are hurting. They [the aldermen] want to make sure they have teeth,” he said, alluding to his earlier statement about the board having teeth.
I don't agree with much of Smart, but think he deserves a lot of credit on this.
This is ridiculous that the city shows this little care for it's tenants after our mayor made a fool of himself attacking banks and other groups for foreclosure.
What's the take-away, it's OK when we do it and bad when they do it?