Properties to be sold for back taxes

Bourbon County treasurer Susan Quick expressed discontent with both attorney Dan Meara and Bourbon County Commissioners after Commission Chairman Allen Warren listed the amounts of delinquent taxes owed to the county from 2006 to 2011 during the regular Friday county commission meeting.

The list included $138,963.02 from 2006, $23,376.54 from 2007, $74,490.90 from 2008, $118,167.03 from 2009, $261,089.09 from 2010 and $403, 554.53 from 2011. Those six years total $1,019,631.11 and Allen Warren stands firm that the county start collecting the delinquent taxes that are owed to the county.

"That's a lot of money that we should have collected before now," Warren said.

Attorney Dan Meara, who is assisting the county on an anticipated summer tax sale, said he currently has about 100 cases on file for foreclosure and expects to file about 50 more within the next few days from 2008 residential delinquencies and some commercial delinquencies.

"I have several issues we can't seem to come to terms on," Quick told commissioners with Meara present. "I can't get any communication from Dan's (Meara) office."

Quick said therefore, her office is collecting taxes "as they go" and isn't sure whether petitions for foreclosure have been filed or not.

She said they have several cases where they have no idea whether or not a petition has been filed.

"That's putting us in a really bad place," Quick said. "Do we need to send over everyone that wants to pay that is on a possible tax sale to his (Meara) office and let him collect the taxes? Or how are we going to operate? Because we can't operate the way we are." Quick told commissioners.

She said her office has no way of knowing who has filed and who has not.

"I have asked for lists..." Quick said. "My hands are tied and I am looking like a real idiot."

Meara said that when a petition is left in the district court, by statute it is considered filed.

"It's not when it is file-stamped by the clerks office," Meara said.

He said a secretary in his office erroneously thought a petition was not filed until it was stamped by the clerk of the district court. In one instance, a taxpayer paid one year of back taxes and later was told they also owed for subsequent years and must pay those in addition to $250 in court costs.

"She has made abject apologies to the taxpayer because she had not consulted me ahead of time," Meara said.

He said the situation arose from misinformation.

As for the list, Meara expressed skepticism over Quick's use of the list.

"Susan was using the list to call people ahead of time and telling them to come in and pay 2008 taxes so they can avoid having to pay 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012."

Quick denied Meara's allegation.

"That is not true," Quick said. "I did not do that and I have not done that and I am upset that I wasn't in the meeting where that was talked about."

Meara said he thought Quick's alleged actions were unfair to the county because the county is paying him to do all the legal work to prepare the petitions and get them ready to file, only to find that before he could file them that the taxpayer had come in and paid, preventing the county from collecting all of the years due.

"The county has a cash flow problem, partially because of this reason, I'm sure," Meara said. "People are only paying the one year that they have to pay to avoid foreclosure."

He said that causes problems for the county.

"That was the reason I was told not to prepare such a list," Meara said. "If Susan only wants the list after we have filed the petitions, we could give her that."

Meara said that would resolve any accusations, whether true or false regarding the treasurer's office use of the lists.

Quick said one particular list took three weeks to get to her office. Meara said that was because his office received them late from the district court.

Quick then asked what should be done about people that paid 2008 or 2009, had already been petitioned and still owed for more years.

Meara said if a taxpayer had come in before he left petitions with the district court, they were not subject to foreclosure, but those that came in after that time would be required to pay their fair share of the expenses to the clerk of the district court and the filing fee as well as pay all the way through 2012.

He said people who are far behind on their taxes are trying to avoid the obligation to pay all the way through 2012, when they can only pay 2008 taxes.

Meara said this not only causes a cash flow problem for the county, but the county then has to raise property taxes to compensate for the taxes they could not collect.

"They knew they owed 2008 taxes for the last five years," Warren said.

"Do you think maybe they didn't pay them because they didn't have the money? You don't understand that? Not everyone has all the money they ever needed. What I'm trying to tell you is some people are struggling in this area," Quick told Warren.

"The county doesn't want anybody's house," Meara said. "We're just taking up an annual collection here and we want everyone to make a contribution so that the county can perform the functions it is supposed to."

Quick reiterated that she was "very upset" she was not at a meeting where allegations were made regarding her use of the lists.

"I feel like I have been treated unfairly by the commissioners in the past and again, it came true, so thank you," Quick said as she exited the commission room.

In other business:

*Commissioners announced they already have about 130 people registered from the 17 counties invited to attend the Southeast Kansas District of counties meeting on March 21. Only Labette and Franklin Counties have yet to respond.

*Public Works Director Marty Pearson was not present at Friday's meeting as he and two county road and bridge department employees were attending a class in Erie on culverts and drainage.

*Public works employee Bill Metcalf said his department has a welder that is non-operable. He told commissioners he knew of a one-year-old welder they could trade for plus $500.

* Freedom Township treasurer Karen Paddock asked commissioners if it were possible to amend the 2013 budget so the township could have money for upkeep of a community center and the Fairview Cemetery. She said past officers moved out-of-state and failed to ask the county for money during preparation of the 2013 budget. Commissioners told Paddock it was too late to do anything this year.䁀