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Treasurer’s Tax Payment Plan is Working Well

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Berrien County Treasurer Bret Witkowski’s concern for the community and compassion for taxpayers in a bind continues to pay dividends for both. His innovations such as the Berrien County Land Bank, his dogged determination to sell as much foreclosed property at auction as possible to get land back on the tax rolls, and his unique approach to helping those who are behind on their tax bills to keep their property through a voluntary payment plan are becoming legendary.

It has now been a year since Witkowski launched his campaign to alert delinquent property taxpayers to his voluntary payment plan and in that year he has successfully doubled the number of property owners engaged in the program from his inaugural 282 to 567. Those are property owners who in the past would have been forced out of their homes for failure to pay and in many cases homeowners who would lose their entire investment because of foreclosure on the property. At one point the program dipped to 270 participants, and it soared to as high as 655 payers in May of this year when the unpaid tax bill was more than $3-million.

The 101-percent increase in payment plan participants is helping to stabilize the neighborhoods involved by keeping people in their own homes as they whittle down their delinquencies.

Witkowski has shared with me his spreadsheet detailing the program and it shows that the average payment plan payer is now paying $270 per month towards his or her back taxes. It’s a reasonable enough plan that helps the property owner retain ownership while working down the tax debt.

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Bret tells me, “As people struggle with the issues of life this is one way we will continue to help them continue to own their properties. I am very proud of the residents who are in this plan and their 92-percent success rate.  This is something the tax payers are doing on their own, which I think speaks to the dedication of those in the payment plan.”

The 567 participants in Witkowski’s payment plan program collectively owe just under $2.1-million in total delinquent taxes. They are currently paying that debt down at a rate of just over $153,000 a month into the county’s coffers. What started out as an average debt a year ago per property of more than $5,070 has been reduced to $4,243 this month. In fact, the average owed per property as of October 1st was just a hair over $3,700. The program has enjoyed a 92-percent success rate, and currently sits at 93-percent for October.

Dealing with foreclosure can be a scary time for anyone, but when you have a friend at the helm in the form of a County Treasurer who wants to help you do everything in your power to retain what you’ve worked hard for, that’s a pretty special thing…especially when the plan works.

Here’s Witkowski’s worksheet month-by-month for the tax re-payment program:

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