CLEARLAKE — The City of Clearlake has threatened legal
action against the County of Lake if the county does not meet the city’s demand
that it hold more than 1,000 tax-defaulted properties up for auction by
November.
In a February 28 letter addressed to the Lake County
Board of Supervisors and Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen, Clearlake City
Attorney Ryan Jones demands on behalf of the city that 1,121 properties in
Clearlake which have been defaulted for nine or more years—and are thus
statutorily required to have been put up for tax auction at least once by
Ringen’s office, according to the city—be brought to auction by Oct. 31 this
year.
“Bringing these properties to auction is not a matter of
discretion,” Jones claims, “it is a statutorily mandated obligation.”
If the county does not hold the properties up for auction
to meet Clearlake’s demand, Jones writes that the city “fully intends to take
such legal action in order to compel the Tax Collector to exercise her
mandatory statutory duties in this regard,” potentially including seeking a
writ of mandate (a court order that the county follow the law by correcting its
actions with regard to holding tax-defaulted properties up for auction).
Asked for comment, Ringen deferred to the county’s legal
counsel, citing “ongoing or potential litigation.”
Last week, Ringen and the county board publicized plans
to hold 217 properties around Lake County, 118 of which are located in
Clearlake, up for tax auction beginning in late May. The 1,121 properties
identified by the city are “in addition to” those parcels, the letter states.
In November, Clearlake sent letters to state agencies,
the Lake County Civil Grand Jury and the county board of supervisors that
requested investigations and corrective actions to reduce the amount of
tax-delinquent properties around Lake County. Those letters noted that more
than 12,000 properties around the county are in some level of tax default at
that time, and that over 25 percent of Clearlake’s properties were
delinquent—the highest rate of default in the county.
City leaders have attributed Clearlake’s problems with
blight and code violations to the tax delinquency. The city’s November letters
stated that delinquency “creates properties that are an attractive nuisance
draining City resources” and creating “a threat to public health, safety, and
welfare.”
The February 28 letter notes that the county did not
respond to the city’s first letter. Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora on
Thursday clarified that while some discussions have taken place between the two
governments, no written response to the city’s concerns has been given.
On Thursday, Clearlake Mayor Russ Cremer said he felt
that the county’s plans to hold 217 properties up for auction in May is not
enough. “They need multiple auctions,” he said.
“I thought (the board’s) response was tepid at best,”
Cremer said, referring to the meeting last week in which the county outlined
its May tax auction plan.
District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier, who along with
board chair Moke Simon sits on an ad hoc committee dedicated to discussing
issues at the County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office, told this newspaper on
Thursday that in large part, he doesn’t take issue with the city’s demands.
“Their demands
match my goals,” Sabatier said. “We want to make sure that we’re within the
state statutes.”
Asked whether he believed it possible to hold the 1,121
additional Clearlake parcels up for auction before November, as the city has
demanded, Sabatier said, “Realistically, I don’t think we can do that.”
“I don’t see us being able to meet what they’re asking
for right away, but we (the county government) are going to work on a response
as a group,” Sabatier said.
Sabatier in last week’s board meeting asked that more
personnel be added to Ringen’s office in order to increase that department’s
capacity to put properties on the auction block. He said Thursday that it is
his goal to see three more individuals hired to do that work.
“The
demand is understood that we need to be doing a whole lot more than what we are
doing right now,” Sabatier added.
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