For the second year in a row, there will be no need to auction off any Ventura County properties to satisfy delinquent property taxes, announced County Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Matheney. A concerted effort by the staff of the Tax Collector’s Office was successful in resolving a number of issues that threatened local property owners with the loss of their properties. A total of 276 properties were identified on July 1, 2009, as requiring public auction. Under California law, the Tax Collector is obligated to sell property on which property taxes have been delinquent for 5 years. Payment on the last remaining property awaiting sale, a commercial property in Oxnard, was completed on Tuesday (1/12/10).

In one particularly compelling situation, staff learned that the reason the property taxes had gone unpaid on one parcel is that the owner, a 108-year old former Ojai woman, had been living out of the county in a care-facility. Using skip tracing skills, Public Services Manager, Jennifer Smith, located the woman’s son in another state and advised him of the threatened loss of the property. The son was able to take care of the accumulated taxes and penalties and save the property from auction.

Several of the identified reasons for nonpayment of taxes involved mistakes that had been made when the deeds of conveyance were prepared and recorded. Diligent research on the part of the Tax Collector’s staff led to the correct information and the opportunity for the owners to keep their properties.

Last year, the Tax Collector’s staff inaugurated an aggressive effort to connect with each property owner who faced the loss of their property for nonpayment of delinquent property taxes. Those previous efforts were similarly successful in avoiding the need for a 2009 tax auction. Fox News highlighted the accomplishment by reporting it on national television.

The economic downturn has not been reflected in the collection rate of 2009/2010 property taxes in Ventura County. The collection rate for the First Installment of 09/10 property taxes stands at 94.35%, which is more than a percentage point improvement over last year’s rate of 93.23% for this time of year.