MANVILLE: Sale of tax, sewer liens ‘surreal’ to him

To the editor:
   Let’s play connect the dots.
   Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in a bitter fight over state budgets and public union’s collective bargaining rights, survived a campaign seeking his recall on June 5.
   The following day in Manville, starting at 10 a.m. or so, a number of borough residents whose names and addresses originally appeared (in a tax sale legal ad) on Page 10-A of the May 31 Manville News were not as lucky.
   Where some may have seen a “business opportunity” (as advertised on late-night TV), I saw a list of people calling for help, trapped in their own set of unfortunate and there-but-for-the-grace-of circumstances.
   One of them was a neighbor and a recent widow whose late husband became unemployed last year. I grew up with many of the persons whose names were on that list. There’s a street in town named for one of them who devoted his life to the Rescue Squad! His widow’s name was on that list.
   The tax lien/sale event in the municipal courtroom last week, ironically held on June 6, seems to exist to maintain the status quo. It allows for the continuation of an unsustainable property tax with associated “fees” so that change becomes a burden to be avoided. Real lives get turned into block and parcel numbers on a tax ratable spreadsheet.
   I’m told on good borough authority that it’s a “complicated” process. My understanding of it stopped at the “legal disclaimer” at the top of Page 10-A and listening to a man from another county bid $10,000 for a $4,875.95 tax and sewer lien on a Green Street home.
   In the end, the town got its monies by cash, certified check, or money order. The tax sale bidders got the goods or the liens (and probable rental options), and the affected townspeople got more “complicated” credit reports. Opportunities for camping and how to live in a vehicle abound!
   Still, much to my surprise, it was a happy atmosphere, not at all like the memories I have of the tax auctions in the Midwest that produced Farm-Aid and Willie Nelson on a national stage.
   I’m glad I paid attention in Civil War history class. Eleven persons had driven from elsewhere to bid on our misfortunes. Four auctioneers administered the process. I and a friend came to observe what happened at the wake. It was surreal. I hoped that was “nervous” laughter, or I might as well have been part of the live-audience at a home shopping network.
   A few weeks ago, a tie vote on the Borough Council was broken by the mayor and our quarterly taxes will increase once again, but only slightly, and in an affordable way to the current thinking of wherever they do what passes for thought. $26 hamburgers and $400 South Carolina haircuts are affordable, too, but not by the person earning $12.50 an hour before taxes!
   A few years ago I counted misspelled foreclosure signs as a pastime. Nowadays I count homes with accompanying uncut lawns as I walk around the borough. For variety I add the “for sale by owner” signs, as they outnumber the ones that charge commission on sales.
   Sadly, I also realize that many of those former “homes,” which have been turned into “real estate” represent real people: People who had dreams, hopes and a vision for their children, or themselves, beyond investing or continuing to invest in the misery of others.
   Game over… at least it is for 115 block and parcel numbers.
Allan Mazur
Manville