EXPLANATION OF REQUEST: On June 21, 2016, the City was served, as one of several Defendants, with a Complaint to Quiet (Tax) Title.
On July 11, 2016, the City timely filed an Answer and Affirmative Defenses asserting its right to any surplus retained by the Clerk of Court after the tax sale. The surplus being retained by the Clerk, is in the amount of $19,578.08, minus the Clerk's fees and costs.
The City's Statement of Claim filed with the Clerk of the Court states the City currently has nine (9) liens imposed on the property, eight (8) of which are for hard costs incurred by the City with a total outstanding amount of fines of $124,570.35.
The total hard costs incurred by the City to maintain the property is $12,744.92.
On July 12, 2016, the Plaintiff (Property Owner) contacted the City Attorney's Office regarding the following settlement offer and request for a waiver of fines with the following proposed terms:
- The Property Owner would not object to the City's claim for surplus so long as the City 1) applied the surplus first to the actual costs incurred by the City and 2) the City used anything above to satisfy the fines.
If this settlement offer is accepted, the City will be writing off approximately, $104,992.27.
To date, the total attorneys' fees and costs are approximately $1,000.