Porter County offers payment plan for late property taxes
Post-Tribune staff report August 29, 2012 2:36PM
Updated: October 1, 2012 5:13PM
VALPARAISO — Porter County residents who are behind on their property tax payments may be able to enter into an agreement for a payment plan with the Porter County Treasurer’s Office to avoid a tax sale of their property. Even property owners who have received a tax sale notice in the mail still have time to enter into an agreement, said Mike Bucko, the county treasurer. Property owners have until Sept. 20 to enter into an agreement requiring a down payment of up to 25 percent and monthly payments through June 20, 2013, in order to be taken off the tax sale list. After Sept. 20, the down payment may be as much as 50 percent. The agreement must be in writing, signed by the taxpayer, and requires the taxpayer to pay the delinquencies in full not later than the end of the business day on June 20, 2013. All contracts must originate through the treasurer’s office, and taxpayers must provide the owner of record on the parcel and the parcel number on the notice to make an appointment. Taxpayers can call the treasurer’s office at 465-3470 to make that appointment. If the taxpayer fails to make a payment under the arrangement, the arrangement is void and the county auditor will mark the property as eligible for tax sale. In that case, the taxpayer may not be enter into another arrangement for five years from the date of when the original agreement would have expired.
Parcels will not be removed from the tax sale list until Oct. 16, to ensure payment and compliance with the agreement.If a parcel is sold at tax sale, only the tax lien is sold, and a taxpayer is not removed from their home and does not lose their land as an immediate result of the sale. The taxpayer has one year from the Oct. 17 tax sale date to redeem the purchase from the buyer.
