Oakland County treasurer urges Pontiac residents to use assistance before March foreclosure deadline

Oakland County Treasurer Robert Wittenberg told the Pontiac City Council on Jan. 21 that the county's tax foreclosure process follows a three-year timeline and warned residents who owe taxes for 2022 or earlier that properties can be foreclosed after March 31 if repayment agreements are not in place.

Wittenberg said the county becomes the collections agent after March 1 for the prior year taxes and that interest and fees specified by state law (1% per month in the first year the county acts as collector) can make delinquent balances grow quickly. He described the county's taxpayer assistance meeting program, the Financial Empowerment Center and one-on-one "TAM" meetings that produced more than 1,600 repayment plans last year and helped reduce the number of parcels auctioned to a small share of cases, many of them vacant properties.

Why this matters: Treasurer Wittenberg framed the presentation as a prevention effort. He said foreclosure affects individual owners and surrounding neighborhoods and emphasized the county's preference to avoid sales by creating repayment plans or identifying other assistance such as poverty exemptions, legal aid referrals or homebuyer assistance for qualifying residents.

Details and supports: Wittenberg described outreach steps the treasurer's office takes: multiple mailed notices, in-person visits, and repeated follow-up. He said in the prior year more than 41,000 parcels were turned over to the county, roughly 39,000 paid in full, the treasurer's office handled more than 1,400 taxpayer assistance meetings and placed more than 31 parcels on auction (mostly vacant land or vacant structures). He also listed resources residents can use: the treasurer's Financial Empowerment Center phone line (248-858-0672), Lakeshore Legal Aid (888-783-8190) and the county's homebuyer down-payment assistance program with an Independent Bank grant of $5,000 per eligible household.

Questions from council members focused on distribution of education materials, eligibility windows for the homebuyer program (first-time buyer defined as no home ownership in the prior three years) and whether local nonprofit or city programs could be layered with county assistance. Wittenberg said the county will provide digital and printable copies of the presentation and work with council members who request staff to attend district meetings.

Ending: Wittenberg urged residents who may owe 2022 or earlier taxes to contact the treasurer's office before March 31 to discuss repayment plans or exemptions. He emphasized that the office's goal is collection with preservation of homeownership where possible rather than foreclosure.