Athens County Treasurer Bill Bias is considering the possibility of implementing a tax lien sale system locally
Athens County Treasurer Bill Bias is considering the possibility of implementing a tax lien sale system locally, which would sell past-due taxes to a third party in an effort to combat tax delinquency.
Up until 2010, only the 12 most populated counties in Ohio could implement the system statewide. Now it’s opened it up to all of Ohio’s 88 counties, Bias said at the Athens County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning.
Athens County would be working with the property tax lender Tax Ease to push through the process. The goal, commissioners said, is to diminish the county’s tax delinquency rate.
As of Tuesday, Athens had about $8 million in back taxes, Bias said.
Bias partially attributed the increased debt to the high interest rate penalties applied to taxpayers.
“It’s a 10 percent penalty if you don’t pay the first half (of your taxes), and 10 percent if you don’t pay the second half,” Bias said. “Last time I checked the debt for property taxes was a couple years ago, and it was only at $2 or $3 million, but now with the three percent interest rate, the numbers have jumped.”
Vice President of Development for Tax Ease, Dawn Hoosier, was present at the meeting. She discussed how a similar system was put in effect in Delaware County, and it has seen its delinquency rates drop from three percent to one and a half percent.
“We are not in the business of taking homes, we just want to provide revenue for the county,” Hoosier said.
Hoosier said, the county would not be responsible for any of the costs to execute the plan, and that it will be entirely funded by Tax Ease.
Tax Ease is hoping to sign on for a three to five year deal, Hoosier said. It plans to offer payment plan options for tax payers, which would include a 17 and a half percent interest rate. The plan also includes that if a taxpayer was to default, the contract would be voided.
The hope is that the system will bring in extra revenue for the school districts, Emergency Medical Services and any other groups that have levies, Bias said.
“We can’t continue to do business the way we have been,” Bias added. “It took me a year and a half to get to this decision to reach out to someone, and hopefully I will make my final decision in a couple of days.”
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