A list of tax delinquents ran to nearly three pages in Thursday's Courier News, with individual amounts owed ranging from $79.47 to $30,713.14.
At a Dec. 6 tax lien sale, the city will try to recoup revenues by taking bids on the debts. Lien purchasers will pay the city the amount owed and property owners will then owe the purchaser, with interest up to 18 percent annually. Bidders must pre-register by Nov. 28 for the sale, which will take place at 10 a.m. Dec. 6 in City Hall Library.
Thursday's delinquent list included a City Council member, a school board member, a charter school, a couple of community development corporations and a prominent developer. The charter school missed a filing deadline to become exempt from taxes and is appealing the assessment, officials said.
All the amounts owed this time are for municipal taxes and Special Improvement District taxes, unlike previous sales that have been primarily for money owed to the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority.
Property taxes are the bedrock of Plainfield's budget, and the tax collection rate is important because the lower the rate, the higher the amount of reserve for uncollected taxes the city must keep on hand. In 2008, Tax Collector Maria Glavan was able to claim a 96.08 percent collection rate, up from a low of 93.32 percent in 2007. Rashid Burney, a councilman at the time, urged Glavan to reach for a 97 percent collection rate.
According to budget documents, the SFY 2010 rate dropped to 95.87 and the SFY 2011 rate was 94.85.
The city is in the process of shifting from a fiscal year budget running from July 1 to June 30 to a calendar year budget starting Jan. 1, 2012. The current six-month "transition year" was necessary to make the change.
--Bernice
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Sounds fishy that they are all taxes and NOT sewer on the list.
ReplyDeleteDive right in Bernice. Name names. Why is it that you always tip-toe around issues?
ReplyDeletePlease get the list of persons who hold positions on boards and CC members and publish them for all in the city to see. Residents will be able to see how these people represent us.
ReplyDeleteI went through the ad and you are welcome to do the same. You can see public notices on the New Jersey Press Association web site, www.njpa.org
ReplyDeleteI am not putting their names on my blog if they are already published in a legal notice. Every time there is a tax lien sale, some prominent names show up. The city paid $1,632.96 to publish the list, so check it out.
GEE.....
ReplyDeleteCampbell , Cathcart, Greaves
To play devil's advocate for the school board I'll say that Cathcart is a former BOE member and that it is John Campbell, not Wilma Campbell, the one listed, so should we blame Wilma for her husband's deeds? It just doesn't seem fair.
ReplyDeleteMaria Pellum (yes, the real Maria)
Here is the direct link to the list on the site Bernice mentions.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.publicnoticeads.com/nj/search/view.asp?T=PN&id=270\11162011_17541599.HTM
Some thoughts:
ReplyDelete- the City's Tax Collector may have made a mistake
- the Greaves may still have a mortgage and that company made a mistake (though they purchased the house for 24k more then 30 years ago)
- the Greaves are experiencing economic challenges like many and have not been able to pay their taxes. (I have been without a salary and I pay my real estate taxes from my savings).
Unfortunately if the latter is true. I think Mrs. Greaves should resign. I know that sounds harsh, but she is making decisions that affect tax payers. She is COLLECTING pay from the residents of this City along with other stipends and not paying her share.
And she makes comments that the 2nd ward gets too many services. My taxes are 3 times her's. YES SIR they are THREE TIMES for house not that different from her's.
If you can't pay your real estate taxes (looks like a years worth) I am truly sorry, I am, the Greaves are nice people, but you should not be collecting from the rest of us (her taxes are half her Council salary) and still not paying. . .she needs to resign, she needs to do that now.
Greaves is on tv always coplaining about the taxes but now we see that she is complaining while the rest of the fourth ward and the rest of us are supporting her. What a hypocrite.She gets paid to be a councilwoman and we are paying for the services she gets. Can the city garnish her check?
ReplyDelete