by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The numbers, taken at purely face value, are astounding.
In 2006, between the county and individuals, there were 16,872 delinquent property taxpayers from the 2005 tax year. The value of those taxes was just over $24 million.
Last year, those figures jumped to 19,003 delinquencies worth $34.25 million.
This year, there are 29,885 delinquencies worth $63.9 million, nearly double the previous year.
According to Alvin Crooms, manager of property taxes for the Tax Collector’s Office, both of those figures are easily records. And, next Friday it’ll be Crooms’ job to get rid of most of them through his office’s on-line sale of the tax certificates that represent a lien on the properties. Those certificates bear interest at a maximum rate of 18 percent a year.
In years past, even with thousands fewer certificates to sell in a public auction, Crooms and his staff would spend several days selling a majority of the certificates. While the City recouped the unpaid taxes through the sales, the process was cumbersome, lengthy and at times confusing.
“Alvin would put a property up for bid and 40 hands would shoot up in the air at the same time,” said Tax Collector Mike Hogan.
That antiquated system was replaced two years ago by an on-line auction that requires preregistration, validation of funds and a whole lot less time. Crooms said the decision has proven valuable.
“It has gone really well. It used to take five or six days when we did it manually,” said Crooms. “Now, we can do it in one day.”
Both Crooms and Hogan said a majority of the available tax certificates do get sold, meaning the City isn’t really losing any property tax money. Only a handful become what’s known as “struck” to the City, which means the City takes ownership of the property.
The auction starts May 30 at 9 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. Over the course of those eight hours, Hogan expects most of the nearly 30,000 properties to be sold — sort of. See, buyers aren’t exactly getting a home or an empty lot. Purchase of the tax certificate instead entitles the purchaser to full payment of the delinquent taxes plus interest. Often, that interest is no more than one-quarter of a percent, but is usually closer to 5 percent.
“I know most of them are looking for a quick 5 percent (on their investment),” said Hogan, adding the sale is buyer-beware and his office encourages everyone to at least look at the properties. “Some of them buy them sight un-seen. We tell them to look up the record, go look at the property and if they like it and want to buy it, fine.
“A lot of the properties have liens on them, are in a bad area of town or have an abandoned structure on them which is going to be demolished by the City. Sometimes their value is less than the taxes.”
Hogan said Florida’s liberal property tax laws almost make it attractive for people to forego paying their property taxes until the very last second. It works like this: the tax bills go out by Oct. 1 every year, they aren’t delinquent until April 1 and the tax sale isn’t until late May or early June.
“The tax certificate is sold and the holder has to hold onto it for two years before they can force a tax deed sale,” explained Hogan, adding the property owner can purchase the certificate any time during this period, usually for just the taxes due plus very little interest. “Then, the Clerk of the Court has 90 days to do the paperwork. That’s almost three years to pay.”
Hogan agreed with Crooms that the on-line sale works really well.
“It was super. It only took us five hours,” he said.