Tax sales process to proceed on 10 properties

Posted July 11, 2012

New Tecumseth's finance department has whittled down a list of 34 properties eligible to move into the seizure and sale process down to 10 which have now been turned over to Real Tax Inc to commence with registering a tax arrears certificate against them.

At March 31, 2012, there were 104 properties that owed $1.9 million in back property taxes. Of those, 88 are residential owing $1.28 million. Of the 104, 34, including 25 residential, were deemed to be the worst cases totalling $1 million outstanding.

"Through a combination of regular letters, two different registered letters, phone calls, emails and personal appointments, Finance staff have negotiated satisfactory arrangements with a significant number of the property owners of the initial 34 properties," according to the update from Mark Sirr, Manager of Finance. "It is the objective of the Finance Department to work with our taxpayers to avoid any loss of
property, however satisfactory arrangements were not achieved for all the properties involved."

The total taxes owing on the accounts turned over to Real Tax Inc. is $423,500.

In 2000, New Tecumseth seized 12 properties that were sold by public auction.

Before a property is sold to recoup taxes, the process has a myriad of steps that must be followed that includes registering with the Outside Agency who prepares the Tax Arrears Certificate. Once registered, the property owner has one year from that date to pay the "full cancellation price" to stave off the sale. At the end of the year, the owner can still request an extension.

At June 30, 2012, there was $6,136,187 owing to the Town in property taxes. That's down from the $6.3 million outstanding at the same time last year.

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