GREENBURGH SPEEDS UP FORECLOSURE PROCESS. GREENBURGH FORECLOSES ON 72 PROPERTIES.RECEIVES SETTLEMENT/PAYMENT OF BACK TAXES ON 298. “Will Not Wait to File Foreclosures in future years.”

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. From Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. March 7, 2016:

Last week the town filed a  Motion for Judgment of Foreclosure in State Supreme Court to foreclose on 72 properties.  The final list is for 72 parcels representing approximately $7.1 million of delinquent taxes (including interest and penalties) of which 16 (including 2 demolished) are classified as family residences.

We are now waiting for a Judge to sign the papers. The town will than have ownership rights to these properties and will sell or auction off the properties.

When Receiver of Taxes Anne Povella and  Michael Pflaum, special counsel in the office of the Town Attorney began the process in December 2013, the delinquent tax list for 2010 and prior tax liens consisted of 370 parcels representing approximately $19.9 million of delinquent taxes (including interest and penalties at such time).

Thus to date, we have reduced the list of delinquent tax liens by 298 parcels representing almost $13 million.  By April 29, 2014, when the List of Delinquent Taxes was filed, the number of parcels was reduced to 222 representing approximately $13.0 million.  For the most part, the $6.9 million reduction was the result of full payment or entering into a tax agreement (that required current taxes to be paid as well as a deposit for the remainder).

An additional 94 parcels representing approximately $4.5 million were removed from the list prior to the filing of the Petition and Notice of Foreclosure on July 1, 2015.  Since the filing of the Petition and Notice of Foreclosure, an additional 56 parcels representing approximately $4.7 million have been withdrawn from the list resulting in the current list as described above.

It is important to note that removing a parcel from the list was not subject to our arbitrary discretion.  Removal required compliance with Section 1138 of the Real Property Tax Law.  Thus, either the tax liens were redeemed in full, the tax liens were subject to a tax agreement, the owner of the parcel had filed for bankruptcy or collecting the tax lien was subject to a legal impediment. 

Examples of a legal impediment include parcels subject to other legal disputes (that ultimately will result in a sale whereby the Town will collect in full) or a parcel that will cost the Town more to own than the taxes due.  Also included in this category are parcels subject to a valid sales contract that has yet to close.  There are six remaining parcels that we expect to collect over $.9 million at closing.

This is the first in rem (foreclosure process) that the town has taken in many years. We have decided to do this annually in the future.

By not waiting – it will be easier for residents to come up with the dollars that they owe, work out payment plans and avoid foreclosure. I feel that we have done everything possible to help property owners avoid foreclosure.

At least seven letters were sent to everyone who owes back taxes.

I devoted many hours – meeting with residents who contacted me, connecting them with non profits and others that were willing to be of assistance to them.

Some people sold their property to avoid foreclosure. Others worked out payment agreements with the town or obtained reverse mortgages.

The Receiver of Taxes and Town Attorney’s office also had numerous meetings with property owners—and was successful in reducing the list of property owners on the foreclosure list.

To encourage payments of back taxes the Town Board even enacted an amnesty on interest in 2013.

Paul Feiner

 

 

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