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Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Ind. Courts - "Judge gives reprieves to hardship tax delinquents"
Bill Doan of the NWI Times reports:
CROWN POINT | The weak and the strong lined up this week to get a break from the Lake County tax man.Lake Circuit Court Magistrate Richard F. McDevitt heard dozens of petitions from tax-delinquent owners hoping to remove their beleaguered properties from Monday's tax sale.
Among those who were granted a year's grace from having their property sold out from under them included the Halls of St. George, a Serbian Orthodox church-based banquet hall in Schererville, and Brother's Keeper, a Gary homeless shelter.
Each religious group has a dispute with the county regarding their tax exempt status.
Halls of St. George is appealing a $906,000 bill. James Wieser, an attorney for the county auditor's office, argued in vain that Brother's Keeper should be denied because it already has lost all other appeals to the county and state.
Others at Tuesday's pleadings, such as Bessie Jones, of Gary, benefited from the court's mercy. She is elderly and disabled, and the county was threatening to sell her home to the highest bidder Monday.
She made her way to the Lake Circuit Court podium and pleaded with the magistrate, "I've done everything I could."
The courtroom was filled to capacity with others stricken by illness, family deaths, financial misfortune and the same entreaty for more time to get right with the tax man. Thousands of tax-delinquent owners face losing properties in next week's tax sale.
McDevitt heard their cases one by one Monday and Tuesday and issued on-the-spot rulings.
William Scoggins, of Gary, said, "I have a hardship like everyone else here. Work has been slow. I've lived in this house since 1957. It's the first time I've had trouble like this."
The magistrate granted relief to both Jones and Scoggins.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 4, 2007 08:21 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts