CROWN POINT | Lake County officials are debating how to spend the proceeds of administrative fees generated from hundreds of monthly home foreclosures.
The Lake County Council announced it will hold a special meeting in the coming weeks to discuss how to spend as much as $634,000 in fees it is estimated financial institutions must pay the county this year to administer the rising tide of foreclosures.
Sheriff Rogelio "Roy Dominguez said he expects his office to conduct about 3,100 foreclosure sales this year.
He said the usual causes of mortgage defaults -- divorce and gambling debts -- are being aggravated this year by so-called subprime loans, high-cost loans made to people with blemished credit histories.
Low introductory rates and payments drew many to these adjustable rate mortgages, but rising interest rates have made it more difficult for the borrowers to make payments.
The result is lenders going to local courts demanding foreclosures and the sheriff's office executing the orders. A new law and county ordinance has added a $200 fee charged to financial institutions for each foreclosure sale.
Dominguez said he has collected $166,000 so far and has submitted a budget for the whole year of 2007 estimating revenue of $634,000.
Dominguez said he may like to use some of the money to help replace the department's 30-year-old helicopters.
However, it is unclear whether the sheriff will have complete freedom in that decision.
The matter was up for debate this week at a County Council meeting. One interested observer was County Clerk Thomas Philpot.
Philpot couldn't be reached Thursday for comment. Councilman Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point, said he believes the clerk may feel the clerk's office, which processes foreclosure paperwork, is entitled to a share of the money to cover his administrative costs.
Blanchard agreed that more discussion is in order.
"I and a couple of my colleagues had some concerns and questions," Blanchard said.
He said the council will ask the sheriff to detail how much it costs to run foreclosure sales.
Dominguez said it costs his office $1.2 million annually to run the sales.
Blanchard said the council may ask the sheriff to spend foreclosure fees on expenses currently being supported by property taxes, such as health care costs for county jail inmates.
Dominguez said he wants to use the money as a creative tool to obtain equipment, such as helicopters, without having to spend additional tax dollars.
