Township to Gain Tax Dollars From Property Sales

Jefferson Township stands to make some money to return to its tax coffers from the sale of several available properties.

The township has a landlocked piece of property available on Raccoon Island, as well as one behind Black Bear Fitness Center, which is part of the township’s redevelopment zone, two on Woodlawn Terrace and one on Maddick Trail.

The properties are available due to tax liens.

“When people don’t pay their taxes, the land reverts back to us,” township business administrator James Leach said at last week's council meeting. “If the land has no foreseeable public use, we are obligated to try and return it to the tax rolls.”

A contiguous property owner, someone who owns and adjacent piece of property, has expressed in the Raccoon Island land, and a developer has is interested in the piece behind Black Bear.

In explaining the sales process, Leach said that if a lot is nonconforming, meaning it doesn’t meet the zoning standards for the zone it is in, it is first offered to contiguous property owners.

“That can be anyone whose property touches the property for sale,” Leach said.

Only one owner can purchase the property, and if more than one is interested it goes to bid, with Leach as the “auctioneer.”

“We’ve had some very spirited auctions over the years,” he said.

If a piece of land for sale conforms to its zoning standards, or if the contiguous owner is not interested in purchasing it, the land goes for public sale.

Leach noted that every couple of years, the township takes an inventory of properties that are available and offers them for sale, but the council has to pass a resolution authorizing the properties for sale.