Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Porter County Commissioners prepare to hold tax sale

Back To Front Page

 

By LILY REX

The Porter County Board of Commissioners will soon hold a Commissioners’ sale of properties delinquent in the payment of property taxes.

County Auditor Vicki Urbanik received the Board’s approval for a contract for SRI, the same company the county has used in past years, to handle the sale. The Board also approved a resolution declaring its intent to hold the sale.

Urbanik said that the county has fewer parcels with less owed in overdue taxes to contend with than it did in 2016. In the last sale, 377 parcels were offered and 119 sold. 351 parcels will be up for sale this year, a number of which have been listed at county certificate sales or tax sales two or three times without selling.

Urbanik says SRI increased its fee from 7 percent to 15 percent this year. Commissioner President Jeff Good, R-Center, expressed surprise that SRI doubled their rate. Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North, for his part, was concerned about passing on the costs of higher fees to people who want to purchase and upgrade delinquent properties, many of which become eyesores.

Urbanik assured that the total fee SRI collects will increase only slightly-- her analysis is based on past performance and the amount of due taxes on the properties for sale. Last year, SRI got a fee of $13,216. She calculates that this year it will get $13,421 from the sales.

Ordinances

In other business, the Board approved on second reading ordinance 16-03, which allows the Commissioners to appoint designees to sit for them on the Stormwater Advisory Board.

The Board also performed first readings of two new ordinances proposed by Porter County Emergency Management Director Lance Bella. One ordinance would establish a non-reverting fund for depositing charitable donations to EMA. The second ordinance would establish a non-reverting fund for the county to use as the fiduciary agent of equipment and supplies used by the state’s emergency management task force in its first district. District one consists of Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, and Jasper counties.

No one spoke for or against either ordinance. Both were approved on first reading with second reading expected March 13.

Special meeting

The Commissioners announced they will hold a special meeting at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, due to surplus business. It will be held in Suite 205 of the Porter County Administration Center, 155 Indiana Ave. in Valparaiso.

 

Posted 2/14/2018

 
 
 
 

 

 

Search This Site:

Custom Search