About 150 people registered for yesterday's auction of foreclosed properties at Bontrager's on Wortendyke Road.
The county was owed about $310,000 in back taxes for the properties included in the auction. The properties sold for a total of $665,000. Those figures are preliminary, said County Treasurer Scott German.
The city also had a handful of properties up for auction, but those figures are not available at this time.
All of the properties auctioned were seized by either the county or city for failure to pay property taxes for a number of years.
We'll provide more details when they become available.
Bontrager's owner and auctioneer Todd Jantzi.
A successful bidder.
Sad to see people lose their
Sad to see people lose their property for not paying property taxes....At the same time they allow GCEDC to forgive some from paying their property taxes..What a screwed up system ...........
Apples and oranges Mark. When
Apples and oranges Mark. When a person assumes the role of property owner, they take on certain responsibilities. One of those is to pay their property taxes. If and when they don't pay their taxes, they are relieved of their responsibility. Period.
When the GCEDC negotiates with a company to set up business in the county, the GCEDC doesn't forgive them from paying taxes, it's used an incentive to get the company to set up here. People that get employed at these companies, spend their money in the community. They buy homes, groceries, cars, gas, pay utilities etc.
I know, the GCEDC gets me pissed every now and then, but you have to stop and look at the big picture. They have their job to do, and we as homeowner's, have ours.
Rich i see your point but
Rich i see your point but those homeowners also as you say.."spend their money in the community. They buy , groceries, cars, gas, pay utilities etc". Many of those jobs you say the gcedc created go to many who live outside Genesee county so how does the county benefit from those that live outside the area..I just read were 50% of the Alpina workers live outside of Genesee county..Some of these companies who get property tax breaks come back and ask for another one a few years later...Liberty Pumps,Graham's and COR development who own the plaza Target for example...Its not a fair system ...Its all a game of winners and losers..In this case the losers are the one who homes were auctioned off......
I can't help but feel a sad
I can't help but feel a sad after looking at these photos. As for the people I recognize I might feel a little weird next time I see them.