Borough officials deem tax sale successful
$400K recovered in taxes and services on
Victoria House
MATAWAN — Borough officials said that the decision to hold an accelerated tax sale for 2001 will likely pay off, allowing the residents and businesses in the borough to avoid the significant tax rate increase the delinquencies would have caused.
Borough Administrator Joseph P. Leo said that the borough recovered funds on all 73 delinquent properties listed for tax sale, including the $433,810 owed to the borough by the Atrium at Matawan, also known as Victoria House, an assisted living facility on Route 79.
"We managed to avoid the necessity of a large tax increase that was staring us in the face because of an uncommonly low collection ratio," said Leo.
According to Leo, the funds collected as a result of the tax sale will bring the borough’s successful 2001 tax collection rate from approximately 95 to 99 percent. If the difference had not been made up, the administrator said that the deficit would likely have been passed on to the other 2,900 taxpayers in town in the form of a large tax increase, estimated at 10 cents per $100 of assessed property value, or large cuts to the operating budget, which would have had an impact on municipal services.
The amount owed by Victoria House was paid by MD Sass, a New York corporation, which now holds a lien on the property.
"The property owners must now settle with the individuals that purchased the liens before they can do anything with the property," said Leo.
Borough officials expressed regret last month that many residents and businesses who were in arrears for small amounts of money for water and sewer services were caught up in the fray around the tax sale.
In order to collect from properties with large delinquencies such as Victoria House, the law requires that every property on which the owner has a delinquent tax bill, or owes water and sewer fees, be included.
To reduce the impact on those who owed extremely small amounts, the Borough Council passed a resolution exempting properties in arrears of $10 or less from sale.
With a significant portion of the tax bill still outstanding, the borough struggled to get out the word about the tax sale, which normally would be held in June.
Many borough property owners who were in arrears for small amounts of money complained about feeling "singled out." The borough notified them in writing that their properties were subject to listing and urged them to pay up before that measure was taken.
Leo said that many people chose to make payment on many of the 127 properties that were in arrears when the letters went out.
"We had a lot of people come in and make payments on the last week and even the last day they could," said Leo.