All the city’s property owners have paid their taxes in full.
By: Sue Kramer
LAMBERTVILLE The city’s tax sale is scheduled to take place Aug. 25, and property owners who have not paid their 2003 taxes in full could eventually lose their homes or business to foreclosure in the process.
There’s just one problem. There aren’t any delinquent taxpayers in Lambertville this year.
In fact, it’s the first time in the history of the city’s tax collection records that all property owners have paid their taxes through the previous year.
"Bonnie does a wonderful job," Mayor David Del Vecchio said of the city tax collector, Bonnie Eick.
Ms. Eick has been the city’s tax collector since 1993, and her job includes preparing for and overseeing tax sales.
"It takes about six weeks to prepare for a tax sale," she said.
Under state law, she explained, a tax sale is supposed to be held every year. Using this year as an example, she said properties that would be listed in a tax sale would be those where the 2003 taxes were not paid as of April 2004.
"I usually have the tax sale in October," Ms. Eick said, "because I like to give the people a chance to pay their taxes."
She said winter months can be hard on property owners because of higher heating bills. With these bills out of the way in the summer, property owners have a little more money and can catch up on back taxes.
"I started out in June with 16 delinquent taxpayers," Ms. Eick said. "Of those 16, four were businesses."
Now there are none.
Delinquent taxpayers make a big impact on the city. For Ms. Eick, it’s a lot of hard work. In addition to the six weeks it takes just to get ready for the tax sale, she sends delinquent notices out every quarter. For those where a tax sale seems imminent, she sends out several notices along with a tax sale notice.
She even phones property owners to give them a last chance to catch up with their taxes before the property is listed for a tax sale.
Conscientious taxpayers also are impacted by delinquent property owners because they must make up the difference between what is collected and the total that should be collected.
"The state makes you put aside money to cover the delinquent taxpayers," Mayor Del Vecchio explained. "The amount (which varies) is formula driven. In 1991, we had to put aside $462,000 and this year, $320,000. That’s $140,000 we didn’t have to collect from the taxpayers because everyone paid."
Delinquent taxpayers don’t just cause a lot of work and inconvenience for the city and residents; they also cause a great deal of work for themselves and the people who purchase their liens at tax sale.
Once the properties are listed in the paper, it’s harder for the property owner to catch up because not only do they have to pay their back taxes with certified funds, but they must pay an additional "cost of sale" fee, a percentage of what they owe. This can range from $15 to $100.
Ms. Eick explained when someone purchases a house at a tax sale, they don’t really purchase the property, and they can’t enter the property or try to collect payments from the owner. What they do is place a lien on the property by paying all back taxes and associated fees.
While the property owner must pay back the money in order to gain clear title to the property, they still own the property and are responsible for all taxes, mortgages, bills, etc., just as they were before the tax sale.
The property owner runs into trouble, though, if they don’t continue paying taxes on the property. If the lien holder pays the taxes for the next two years, they then can start foreclosure proceedings, and the property owner could be the loser.
"It’s a lot of work when you purchase a lien," Ms Eick said. "I’ve made up a pamphlet for anyone who wants to know how it works. They can contact me between 9 and 3:30, Monday through Friday, at the tax collector’s office (City Hall) or call 397-0801. I’ll be glad to explain anything to them and answer their questions."
This quarter, Ms. Eick said she collected $2,240,515 from Lambertville’s 2,200 taxpayers.
The collection rate is something Mayor Del Vecchio said is climbing steadily upward every year.
"When I took office, our collection rate was 90.68 percent," he said. "Now it’s over 97 percent, and the fact that we now have everyone instead of 90 percent of the people paying their taxes is phenomenal. The fact that we aren’t having a tax sale shows how serious we take tax collection. It’s the only way to be fair to everyone."
"Hats off to the taxpayers of Lambertville," Ms. Eick said.