Mahoning County treasurer tackles persistent problem

There are 18,000 vacant lots in Mahoning County that carry delinquent taxes, are abandoned and are basically worthless -- so worthless that the county prosecutor's office isn't interested in filing foreclosure actions to recover the money. That's why the program developed by Treasurer John Reardon and his staff is so compelling.
The sale of tax liens to collect a portion of the delinquent property taxes is necessary and timely. Timely because if the initial sale in December goes as planned, Youngstown State University and St. Elizabeth Health Center will benefit greatly by being able to control the vacant lots. Necessary because the problem of abandoned property has stymied the development of the city of Youngstown.
"Those are parcels that are virtually uncollectible," Reardon told Vindicator writers recently. "No one would buy them."
As we noted in an editorial on this very issue three years ago, the legal costs of each foreclosure are about $700, while often the value of the properties in the city with long-standing unpaid taxes is less than that. At the time we called for legislative action on the state level that would give counties the power to seize and sell such property.
Reardon has adopted a variation of that theme. He's planning Mahoning County's first negotiated tax lien certificate sale for Dec. 28. His goal is to generate revenue for the county and get vacant parcels into the hands of people who will take care of them.
Highest bidder
Until recently, the law required counties to sell a tax lien for the full amount of back taxes, but a change now allows them to sell to the highest bidder, even if the high bid is less than the full delinquency amount.
As the treasurer puts it, "It means that we might sell a lien and get only 10 cents on the dollar. But the simple reality is that 10 cents on the dollar is much better than zero cents on the dollar."
In an ideal world, the $40 million in unpaid property taxes would be recovered fully -- and then some, with interest and penalties. But this isn't an ideal world and reality must govern.
The reality is that about $35 million of the county's total $40 million tax debt is uncollectible. In such a situation, something is better than nothing. There's no point in waiting for someone to come along to buy parcels that have no value.
This isn't a new problem and past efforts to address it have been undermined either because county officials did not have the legal authority to act, or county government simply did not have the manpower.
Indeed, Reardon admits that with his current level of staffing, the first sale of the tax liens will be a challenge. But the treasurer is determined to make it happen because if the county misses the Dec. 28 date, it would have to wait until the following fall.
That would be most unfortunate, given the major construction projects now underway near Youngstown State University and the improvement projects around St. Elizabeth.
It's time to get the delinquencies off the books and the land into the hands of people who have pride and a sense of responsibility to the community.