From the Bloomington Herald-Times:
Owner-residents of properties in arrears on their taxes who had hoped to avoid an Oct. 3 tax sale by making a payment between July 1 and 13 might get a break. Monroe County Auditor Amy Gerstman said Friday she will consider allowing payment plans for those properties, but the decision could take several weeks. Partial payments were due July 1, the date county treasurers across Indiana send a certified tax sale list to their county’s auditor, according to state law. On June 27, Monroe County Treasurer Cathy Smith sent letters to owners of 375 properties, noting that payments made by July 13 would avoid extra costs. Owners of 105 properties — not 117 as reported previously — responded to Smith’s letter by July 13, the day a title search fee is added to their bills. But after July 1, partial payments were too late, and those who made them remain on the tax sale list. State law governs tax sales, and only a county’s auditor is authorized to remove parcels from the tax sale list once certified. After July 1, tax-delinquent property owners must pay all back taxes, plus late penalties and other accrued fees in order to be removed from the list. Since July 13, owners of five of the 105 properties in limbo have paid the balance between their partial payment and all that they owe, so they were removed from the list, as state law permits. That leaves 100 properties on the tax sale list whose owners believed they would be removed by making a partial payment, on the incorrect advice of the county treasurer. And 25 of those properties have homestead exemptions, indicating that they are owner-occupied. Because the tax-delinquent property owners were given misinformation by a county official, some officials, including county commissioners President Mark Stoops, think those who made a good-faith effort to pay enough to avoid the tax sale should be given a break. ... Gerstman said by telephone Friday that she is not inclined to approve of payment plans for rental or commercial properties or vacation homes, but will consider homestead properties....
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2012/08/25/news.auditor-considers-payment-plans-for-some-properties-heading-for-tax-sale.sto
