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Witkowski Opens Niles Office

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Thanks to a 400-percent increase in the number of Berrien County properties added to his foreclosure list, and the subsequent success in establishing individual taxpayer payment plans to help resolve that issue, Berrien County Treasurer Bret Witkowski has announced the creation of a South County satellite office for his operations and it is set to officially open on Monday morning.

Witkowski tells me "During the great recession, the number of properties that could face foreclosure from nonpayment of taxes has increased 400-percent from the days before the great recession." In his attempt to stem the tide of properties that end up being sold at auction, and to protect home owners from losing their homes or businesses to foreclosure, Witkowski has crafted a highly successful payment plan that allows owners delinquent in the payment of their property taxes to keep their homes while making payments against the debt owed. 

Thanks to the overwhelming success of that payment system, the Treasurer now has 500 property owners making such monthly payments to avoid the seizure of and loss of their homes or businesses. 

Witkowski says that with the surge in taxpayers utilizing the offices of the Berrien County Treasurer for monthly debt relief payments, and because many of those payment plans involve properties in and around the Niles and Buchanan areas of the county, he has elected to open the satellite facility in the South County Courthouse Building to facilitate those payments. 

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Effective Monday, March 29, 2016, Witkowski will operate a second office of the County Treasurer in the Berrien County Courthouse building located at 1205 N. Front Street in the city of Niles. The office hours on that first day will be from 9am until noon for any and all taxpayers from the South County area who would like to make payments or establish a payment system to stem the tide of foreclosure on a private home or individual business property. 

Creation of the office will also significantly reduce travel times for taxpayers in that area who can avoid having to trek north to meet their obligations with Witkowski's office. 

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