Despite $400K in arrears, park can't be sold for taxes

By Jane Smith

2/15/07 — Don’t expect to find Conneaut Lake Park on the list of properties to be sold at an annual Crawford County Tax Claim Bureau sale, despite the fact no real estate taxes have been paid for 10 years and now are more than $400,000 in arrears.

As long as the 115-year-old amusement park is under court supervision, it can’t be sold for unpaid property taxes.

The issue came up at last week’s meeting of Summit Township Board of Supervisors when discussions revolved around the park’s future. Supervisor Harry McGrath noted that had the county been doing its job, the park would have been sold for unpaid taxes by now.

However, until there is a change in the park’s status, the county can’t sell it for unpaid taxes, according to the county’s Tax Claim Bureau Director Frederic Wagner.

The park joins a list of between 150 and 200 other properties in the county that can’t be sold despite real estate taxes not being current.

In most cases, when the property owner is two years delinquent on real estate taxes and makes no payment plans, the property goes up for public auction.

However, there are some exceptions, according to Wagner.

For example, properties may be subject to bankruptcy action or under court supervision. Of those, only one — Conneaut Lake Park — is under court supervision, Wagner said. The other nearly 200 properties are subject to bankruptcy action.

The park has been under court supervision since 1998 when Dana Watson, former member of the Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, asked for a court-appointed overseer when the number of trustees dwindled to one.

Since then, several other overseers have been appointed, including local attorney Bill Jorden; Herb Brill, a retired attorney and professor; and, currently, LeRoy Stearns, director and chief operating officer of the Crawford County Humane Society and member of Meadville City Council, who was appointed in 2005.



Tax bill keeps going up

While the sale is delayed, the tax bill keeps rising because Wagner’s office is mandated to add interest.

Interest rate charge is .75 percent each month. “That’s month, not year,” Wagner stressed, adding that no payments have been made since 1996, and the debt is accumulating rapidly.

And interest is compounded, meaning every month’s interest is based on the previous total, then that month’s interest is added.

In addition, the fact that taxing bodies (township, school or county) have raised the millage rate, the real estate taxes for Conneaut Lake Park, like other businesses, have increased.

For example, in 1996, the park’s real estate taxes that were unpaid totaled $15,122.52.

The county assessment appeal board reduced the park’s assessment after an appeal was filed by former operator Gary Harris about the assessed value of the park property.

Crawford County commissioners agreed with the appeal and cut the assessed value by 45 percent — resulting in a decrease in taxes for the next year to $8,314.47, according to Wagner.

However, the annual tax bill since then has more than quadrupled, to $34,109 in the most recent year, because of increased millage rates by township, county or school districts over the years.

And, when you add each year’s unpaid taxes and the interest since 1986, the park now owes $436,141 in unpaid real estate taxes.



No forgiveness

And neither the taxes nor the interest can be forgiven by the taxing bodies.

By law, no municipality — local, school or county — can write off the property taxes, according to Mark Stevens, attorney for the county.

“There is no mechanism in place to do that,” he said, quoting the legal reasons why the county commissioners, township supervisors or school board can’t forgive the taxes.

And, because the park doesn’t meet the state requirements for tax-exempt purposes, it can’t qualify for tax exemption.

Commissioners, who comprise the county tax assessment appeal board which hears tax-exemption hearings, have ruled the park doesn’t meet the state-mandated formula for tax-exempt status. They based their decision on a ruling from the assessment appeal board attorney.

That ruling was as recent as two years ago when the former board of Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park (which resigned en mass in September 2005) filed for that exemption, according to Joseph Galbo III, chief assessor.

And, even if the park had the money in 2006 to pay the current taxes, that payment would, by law, have to be credited to delinquent taxes.

Thus, the 1996 taxes must be paid before the 2006 taxes.

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