For the third time in recent years, the city of Owensboro, Ky., has launched what it calls a "mass foreclosure," taking aim at 33 properties to satisfy unpaid property taxes and property maintenance liens.
The properties are all over the city, and some have unpaid taxes dating back as far as 2008. Many also owe accumulated property maintenance fees (or nuisance abatement liens) charged by the city for such things as mowing high grass, cleanups and even demolition costs when dilapidated houses or buildings have been taken down by the city.
Some of the properties owe a few thousand dollars in back taxes. But a few have bills approaching $20,000 in a combination of unpaid taxes and property maintenance fines and liens.
Late last week the city officially filed a lawsuit against the owners of the properties seeking payment of the delinquent taxes and maintenance liens in Daviess Circuit Court. If payment is not received, the suits asks that the Daviess County Master Commissioner sell the properties at auction on the courthouse steps.
An auction date has not been set and it may be months before an actual sale will be held. The city's last mass foreclosure began in 2015 against 24 problem properties and took about a year to finally resolve.
For this mass foreclosure, the city is owed a total of nearly $225,000 in back taxes and property liens, not including any unpaid 2016 back taxes that are now overdue. Other entities, including Daviess County, the state of Kentucky, the United States and other creditors such as mortgage lenders, may also be owed money by the property owners. The suit puts all those "respondents" on notice to bring their claims forward.
In 2015, the city foreclosed on 24 properties. In 2012, a city mass foreclosure targeted 21 properties.
Typically, when the city has initiated a mass foreclosure, houses that the city had already torn down at city expense are at the top of the list. In many of the cases, the owners of the properties are either deceased or have no interest in them and some are vacant lots, while others have unoccupied houses or buildings. In the city's last mass foreclosure, only one of the properties was occupied.
Steve Lynn, the city's assistant city attorney, said it will be hard to say how many of the properties will be removed from the suit because the outstanding taxes and liens will have been paid.
"The first two foreclosures that we filed in 2012 and 2015 included a total of 42 properties, most of which were abandoned/unoccupied properties and had nuisance abatement liens from the expenditures made by the city for mowing and or demolition of structures on the property," Lynn said. "As I recall, we had three to five property owners in each action that settled their case by paying outstanding property maintenance liens and tax bills."
This time around, 16 of the 33 properties are known to be occupied, Lynn said. "So I expect that we will have a greater number of settlements," he said. "The owner of a particular property can settle their case by payment of all taxes, liens, penalties, interest, and attorney's fees up until the Master Commissioner's sale at the courthouse."
As in past mass foreclosures, the city may be interested in purchasing some of the lots for future housing development by the city or by Habitat for Humanity, Lynn said.
The city has already paid to have structures demolished on seven of the properties, Lynn said.
Here is the list of 33 properties making up the city's latest mass foreclosure lawsuit, with the total of unpaid taxes and fines and property maintenance liens owed the city for each property. The total does not include unpaid 2016 property taxes that are now overdue. Many of the properties owe that as well.
