From the Northwest Indiana Times:
Lake County commissioners want to bring the gavel down on deceptive bidders at their tax sales.
Commissioners voted Wednesday to authorize the county treasurer and the county attorney to pursue those who used last week's auction to dodge their full tax debts or who failed to pay for all the properties they purchased.
Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Crown Point, said he wants more stringent rules in place for the next sale in July to prevent future abuses.
The commissioners' two-day auction of tax-delinquent properties last week took in more than $3.4 million, Lake County Attorney John Dull said. However, he said there were problems.
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Dull said he would like future bidders to pay by credit card so every land purchase at auction is accounted for and billed properly. Dull said the county now accepts cash or checks, a system that allows deceptive bidders to cheat the county by not paying for all purchases in the swirl of activity involving hundreds of bids on thousands of properties.
Commissioners also authorized the treasurer to cancel the sale of property to a bidder whose corporate name is "deceptively similar" to the owner of the delinquent property, Dull said.
State law forbids delinquent taxpayers from repurchasing their property at a lower amount than the taxes due.
Dull said he also will pursue bidders who appear to have been working on behalf of someone who was barred from bidding because they owed the county taxes on other properties.
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Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/lake-county-commissioners-pursue-tax-auction-cheats/article_d6b93854-00d2-5831-b68f-77222768a34e.html#ixzz1rCWnBiaz
