County auditor reports tax sale recovered delinquent tax revenue and yielded net proceeds

County Auditor Mike Rosenbaum reported to the LaPorte County Council on Oct. 27 the results of a recent tax-sale process that recovered significant delinquent-property receipts.

Rosenbaum said 871 properties were initially identified for tax sale after missing three tax payments (about 18 months delinquency) totaling roughly $3.8 million in unpaid taxes. During the required notification period, 439 of those properties were redeemed, bringing in about $1.5 million that would not have otherwise been collected. The sale itself offered 370 properties and resulted in 161 sales; the auction generated in excess of $6 million in proceeds but much of that amount represented amounts in excess of property taxes (escrowed amounts). Rosenbaum said the portion attributable to property tax collection during the sale was about $605,000 and, after accounting for sale costs (about $53,000), the county netted roughly $552,000 from the sale.

Overall, Rosenbaum said the combined effect of the notification period collections and the sale left the county with roughly $2 million more in cash than it had before the process began. He credited cooperation between the treasurer and auditor's offices for the results and encouraged residents who may be vulnerable to property fraud to use the county's free property'fraud alert service.

Rosenbaum and county staff also described the narrow criteria for removal from the sale (payment or arrangement) and noted that smaller discrepancies or wrong addresses can be corrected and lead to removal from the sale list.