TAX FORECLOSURES BIG TOPIC AT FORUM

NILES – Area residents got the chance to learn more about budgets and taxes at last week’s forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass Counties. The meeting also gave league members the opportunity to share their thoughts about the state budget.
Nearly two dozen people gathered for the meeting which featured remarks by Berrien County Treasurer Bret Witkowski and Cass County Treasurer Linda Pruett as well as a league discussion on what should be included in the state League of Women Voters’ position on tax and budget matters.
“Other than their house, there’s no bigger expense for people than taxes,” Witkowski said. “But few of us care about taxes except for the two times a year we pay our property taxes.”
He noted that paying property taxes on time has become harder for a growing number of area residents and especially for senior citizens. “More than one in 10 properties in Berrien County will be delinquent this year and we have seen more senior citizens coming in,” he said.
One of the big properties in the county that could be up for foreclosure this spring is Orchards Mall. Witkowski said he’s assured businesses in the mall that the county will not be locking the mall’s doors. He said the mall owners owe over $500,000 in back taxes.
Both he and Pruett said they do all they can to help property owners and offer payment plans to people who are facing foreclosure for unpaid taxes. Witkowski said he expects the county to end up foreclosing on 250 to 300 properties this spring in Berrien County. Pruett said that number is between 60 and 65 in Cass County.
“I know my people and I know some have to decide between paying for their medicines and paying their taxes,” Pruett said. “… Veterans are not the only ones who need help. Seniors have worked hard all their lives and now have to worry about being able to keep their homes. Seniors are embarrassed about having to come in to my office.”
“I’ll do just about anything to help people. If someone has a homestead, I’m going to bend over backwards to help them keep it. If they can make a payment, I won’t foreclose. I visit every homestead that’s in foreclosure. One man threatened to kill me and he spent a year in jail. Now I take a deputy with me.”
When asked about what changes they’d like to see in state law regarding foreclosures, Witkowski said he’d like to see the interest rate lowered on delinquent taxes and have a way to recoup the costs of demolition when properties aren’t sold on tax sale.
He said the interest charged on delinquent property taxes is 18 percent in the second and later years, a rate that hasn’t changed since the Jimmy Carter administration. With demolition costs, he’d like to be able to put the costs as a lien on an owner’s other properties.
Witkowski and Pruett also talked generally about government and agreed they prefer local control whenever possible. “I believe township government is the purest form of government,” Pruett said. Witkowski said people trust their local government the most because “when people become a number, they lose trust in their government.”
The last half of the meeting featured league members’ discussion about the state budget, changes over the years and what positions the state league should take on budget and taxation matters. Members voted on 22 questions and agreed on a majority of them.
Areas where members were in agreement included supporting measures to insure that state revenue is sufficient and flexible enough to meet changing needs, providing tax relief for low income residents and senior citizens, adjusting for inflation the taxes on cigarettes and liquor and considering the impact of fees on low income residents.
Members also agreed that the budget development process should be transparent, that the revenue sharing funds should distributed fairly, that the state should fund services it mandates local governments to provide and that businesses should pay their share of taxes.
People didn’t like the idea of generating more revenue by taxing more services and couldn’t agree on items like whether hybrid and electric cars should pay their fair share of transportation funding.