Liggett land pulled from tax sale
Some of the government entities that may not be seeing any property taxes from land owned by Ernest and Marilyn Liggett or their companies due to a recent court ruling are considering an appeal of the decision that removed 101 properties from Monday’s tax sale. Ernest Liggett petitioned Judge Ralph Warman on his own behalf in Motions Court last Friday saying he, his wife and their companies would have no adequate remedy if the tax sale were to take place.
Removing the properties from the sale, Liggett stated in the motion filed with the courts, “will not adversely affect, cause undue inconvenience or loss to the defendant or adversely affect the defendant’s fiduciary responsibility to the public interest, but will prevent irreparable injury to the petitioners and petitioners’ respective corporations.”
Liggett also argued that there are pending court cases that could prevent the properties from being sold.
Warman granted the petition, removing 101 parcels in Brownsville Borough and Brownsville Township from the Sept. 28 tax sale. The combined taxes, interest and fees on the 101 properties, 96 of which are in the borough, totaled more than $118,000. Some of that money would have gone to the Fayette County Tax Claim office to cover the sale expenses, but most of it would have gone to the Brownsville Area School District, Brownsville Borough, Brownsville Township and to Fayette County.
“The upset price includes back taxes, plus an estimate of current taxes and bureau costs. The biggest tax is the school tax,” said Sarah Thomas, director of the tax claim bureau. “My solicitor does a distribution of that money. The back taxes are paid first. Obviously Brownsville Borough is getting hit, as is the school district.”
Brownsville Area School District Business Manager Ed Yorke said the matter has been turned over to the district’s solicitor, James Davis, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Brownsville Borough Tax Collector Robert Petriello said that while he doesn’t receive his commission when Liggett fails to pay his taxes on time, the removal of the properties from the sale shouldn’t significantly affect the borough.
“He never paid for the past four or five years anyhow. The borough doesn’t count on it,” Petriello said.
Brownsville council President Jack Lawver agreed.
“It’s like Bob says, we don’t count on it because he (Liggett) always manipulates a way not to pay them. We’ve learned not to count on it,” Lawver said.
According to Lawver, Liggett’s taxes would add between $11,000 and $15,000 to the borough coffers if they were paid. Of the borough budget of just over $1 million, about $210,000 a year comes from local property taxes.
Lawver said that to his knowledge none of the taxing bodies received any notice of the motion prior to the hearing. Anthony Dedola, the solicitor for Brownsville Township, said he only learned of the hearing after the fact, when he was contacted by the Herald-Standard.
Lawver said he is looking into whether the taxing bodies can appeal the ruling. John Cupp, the solicitor for the Tax Claim Bureau, said that to his knowledge, there is no requirement for the taxing bodies to be notified.
The court order issued by Warman removed the 101 properties from the tax sale, but did not order any payment of the back taxes at this time. Cupp said that the bureau generally doesn’t oppose any motions to halt a sale for legal reasons.
“We can always sell it at another sale,” Cupp said.
While the Tax Claim Bureau generally only holds one sale for back taxes a year, Cupp said more can be held if there are enough parcels involved and if there appears to be sufficient market for the properties.
“We can re-announce the tax sale just for Mr. Liggett’s properties, separate from all the other properties, if it becomes appropriate,” Cupp said. “Our goal is not to take people’s properties, but to get them to pay their taxes.”
Thomas said properties are only put on the tax sale list if taxes have been delinquent for two years. Property owners can have the parcels removed from the tax sale if they pay a portion of the back taxes and set up a payment plan for the remainder, a system Liggett has used in the past.
“He signed up for a payment plan two years ago, in 2007, and he defaulted. He’s not eligible for another payment plan until 2011,” Thomas said.
Warman’s order is specific in only halting the Sept. 28 sale of Liggett’s properties, with a hand-written note at the bottom of the order signed by Warman.
“This order shall affect only the September 28, 2009 sale date and is not intended to enjoin the sale of the properties on any adjournment sale date or any other future sale date,” Warman wrote.