Wayne, Pike tax woes

Residents slow in paying real estate taxes

By TOM KANE

MILFORD AND HONESDALE, PA - It’s not as bad as the alarming rise in the number of foreclosures, but the number of Wayne and Pike landowners who have not paid their taxes for two years is growing, albeit gradually.

“It’s an indication that times are tough for a lot of our neighbors,” said Cindy Gehris, director of the Pike County Tax Claim Bureau.

The real property law stipulates that properties with two years of unpaid taxes will be subject to a tax sale. The tax sale for those in arrears for 2006 and 2007 taxes will be held on September 24 in both Pike and Wayne counties.

“It’s not entirely unusual for there to be this many delinquent properties, but the number of such properties is steadily rising,” Gehris said. “It’s not alarming, but it’s serious.”

The same comment was made by Cheryl Sykes, director of the Wayne County Tax Claim Bureau. “There’s no doubt that the number is growing more than usual,” Sykes said.

The amount of money that was due to the three taxing centers in Pike during tax year 2006 is $865,879. In Pike, the number of properties on the list for 2008 was not available. In Wayne there are about 840 properties listed on the tax sale notice for 2008.

The taxing centers are the county, the townships and the school system.

“A number of those properties will eventually be paid for as we get nearer to the tax sale date, but not nearly all of them,” Gehris said.

If the 2006 taxes are paid but not the 2007 taxes, the property comes off the list for sale for another year. People are allowed to pay in installments, she said. “They can pay in four equal payments four times a year.”

There are three types of sales that occur for a delinquent property. First, the upset sale on September 24 occurs when a prospective buyer bids on the property but must pay the taxes and all the liens before taking possession. Second, if the property is still not sold, a judicial sale is held in the spring by the county court in which the liens are cleared in order to make the sale more attractive to a buyer. And third, there is a repository sale, which is not a public event but occurs with sealed bids to the tax claim bureau.

“Most of these properties at this stage are vacant lots,” Gehris said.

“Times are tough,” Sykes said. “People losing their homes is a sad thing.”

As with the number of foreclosures, Wayne is in better shape than Pike since it has fewer delinquent properties on the sale list.