A candidate seeking election to the highest position of fiscal oversight of Lake County government finances is in danger of losing her home for failing to pay taxes.
Lake County records indicate Carol Ann Seaton owes the county $12,640 in back taxes, penalties and unpaid stormwater fees.
Seaton filed this week for election to the 2nd District seat on the seven-member Lake County Council. She is challenging incumbent Councilwoman Elsie Franklin, who is running for re-election.
The council approves annual spending plans for county government and a number of other local government units. The council also has the authority to regulate the local option income tax now imposed on the personal income of all county residents and workers.
Seaton hasn't returned calls for comment.
Seaton's tax troubles first surfaced in 2010 after she was elected the Democratic nominee for county assessor, when county officials withdrew property tax deductions previously allowed Seaton's home in the 2300 block of Adams Street. They did so after an investigation indicated the deduction application appeared to have been forged in the name of a dead relative.
Seaton denied any wrongdoing and the prosecutor said the statute of limitations barred his office from pursuing any tax violations in connection with the Seaton homestead.
But county officials removed her from the Lake County Property Tax Board of Appeals, where she ruled on the tax assessments of others, and pursued her for back taxes now due because of the deduction withdrawal.
County records indicate Seaton's home is scheduled to be offered in a 2014 tax sale if the delinquent assessments aren't paid.
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