CROWN POINT |The migration of delinquent taxpayers to the Lake County Treasurer's office has become a sure sign of the upcoming autum tax sale.

"There are starting, but usually they don't flock in yet until the week before the sale," Treasurer John Petalas said Tuesday.

These tardy taxpayers are trying to avoid having their properties go to the highest bidder starting 9 a.m. Sept. 27 in the Lake County Government Center auditorium.

Petalas said the list of about 15,000 tax delinquent houses, businesses and vacant lots are for sale is the smallest he's seen in his six years as county treasurer. "They usually average 20,000," Petalas said. Last year 18,000 were on offer.

About 74 percent of all the delinquent properties in the sale are located in the City of Gary, according to a listing provided in a recent advertisement by Synergistic Resource Integration, an Indianapolis-based firm conducting the sale for the county.

The tax sale is designed to collect overdue taxes by giving the public the chance to buy the delinquent taxpayer's property for the price of the late taxes and penalties.

SRI explains on its website the delinquent owner can cancel the sale and redeem his property up to one year later by paying the back taxes himself. The speculator will get a refund.

Petalas said properties ignored at his sale next month will be forwarded to the Lake County Board of Commissioners who will hold their next tax sale in the spring of 2012, County Attorney John Dull said.

"Everybody seems to be flocking to the commissioner sales. The redemption period is quicker, they can start the bid at a lower price," Petalas said. State law requires the treasurer to set the minimum bid at the level of the delinquent tax amount.

 

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