About 600 foreclosure notices from the city of Bangor went into the mail Tuesday to alert residents with outstanding balances that time is running out to make good on their debts to the city.
The outstanding balances on past due property tax payments and sewer or stormwater fees stretch back two years, when the city initiated property tax lien attachments. Bangor Mayor Joe Baldacci says the city just wants its residents to pay their fair share.
David Little, Bangor’s tax collector, says the city’s old policy of giving residents extended periods of time to come forward just isn’t working.
“We were hoping the taxpayers would do the right thing,” he says. “Everybody knows they owe taxes. You know you owe utility charges.”
And Little says what started out as a few overdue property tax payments here and sewer or storm fees there started to escalate.
“In total we’re looking at about $419,000 as a grand total among the three charges,” Little says.
“It’s not chump change at all and everybody in Bangor needs to do their part in terms of paying their fair share,” says Baldacci.
Baldacci says many of the outstanding accounts are old. Property owners had already been sent notices of overdue payments, then warnings of pending liens. After that the city brought the actual liens, and then this week the decision was made to begin foreclosure proceeding against those with outstanding balances.
“The direction of the council obviously is that we need to collect every penny that is owed,” he says. “We are facing, and have been for the last five years, facing severe budget cuts from the state of Maine and the federal government. So, we need to fund schools and roads and fire and police and all the basic services, and that’s why everybody needs to do their fair share.”
And as far as the 600 forclosure notices going out in single day?
“I’m not convinced 600 is a large number,” says Geoff Herman, a spokesman with the Maine Municipal Association, a lobbying group for Maine cities and towns.
Herman says municipalities must take the action prescribed by law to address outstanding tax or fee payments, and that for a service center the size of Bangor, 600 foreclosures shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
“Bangor’s a little unique, like the large service center communities are, because it is the enforcer of not only the property tax liens, but also the utility liens,” he says. “Bangor has two different types of utilities in that area, both wastewater and stormwater, so it’s sort of all the lien processes consolidated in one entity.”
In this instance, Little says the breakdown amounts to 187 outstanding property tax bills with about 200 liens each for sewer and stormwater. He says many of the taxpayers have not even responded to the city’s requests for payment. In such cases, he says, foreclosure is the avenue of last resort, but it’s not the city’s preferred method of resolution.
“We’d much rather have our money than the property,” he says. “We don’t want to be in the real estate business. Unfortunately the law puts us into that business and we need to be in that business to secure payment, but we’d rather work with the taxpayers to try and do something with them.”
Bangor officials have given residents until the middle of next month to pay up or agree to a payment plan to avoid further penalties, including the loss of the properties.