CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake is challenging the Lake County Civil Grand Jury’s conclusions in its recently released report regarding the city’s dispute with the county over the lack of tax-defaulted land sales.
The
matter is scheduled to also be taken up as a discussion item at the council’s
Thursday evening meeting.
In
his memo to the city council on the item, City Manager Alan Flora said the
grand jury’s June 29 report is requiring the city respond to its findings
within 90 days, however, he added, “after review of the report it is apparent
that a more swift response is warranted due to the many inaccuracies in the
report.”
He
said city staff is working with Mayor Russ Cremer and Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten
on a response that the council will be able to review on Thursday.
Last
year, the city began to ask the county to consider more frequent tax sales,
pointing to thousands of tax-defaulted properties and millions of dollars of
uncollected taxes.
In
November, the city followed up by sending letters to agencies including the
Board of Supervisors, California State Controller, California State Treasurer,
California Board of Equalization and the California Attorney General’s Office
asking for an investigation into the process and the performance of Lake County
Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen.
The
city also had asked the Lake County Civil Grand Jury in November to consider
the matter.
The
city reported that the grand jury initially responded in December, saying that
it had “long been fully aware of the situation in the Lake County Treasurer/Tax
Collector’s Office.”
The
grand jury referenced its 2017 report, which had two findings – that the county
has not held a tax sale since 2013 and that the then-proposed 2017 sale only
included 3 percent of eligible properties.
The
2016-17 report included one recommendation, which was that “The County conduct
a tax lien sale on an annual basis including properties form the cities of
Clearlake and Lakeport.”
The
grand jury at that time summarized the problems created from a lack of tax
sales as primarily a strain on local revenues, less community investment,
deterioration and blight, and a hampering of municipalities in providing
services due to decreased revenues.
Since
then, two tax sales have been held – in June 2017 and June 2018, according to
county records. No tax sale was held in 2019 and this year’s sale was canceled
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those
two tax sales in 2017 and 2018 are the only ones Ringen has held since taking
office in 2013.
City
seeks grand jury investigation
In
January, Flora reported to the council that he had been in contact with the
grand jury and it had indicated it was considering another investigation.
Earlier
this year, the city also threatened the county with legal action if Ringen’s
office didn’t make additional efforts to hold more sales.
In
its report, which can be seen here, the grand jury outlines its investigation
beginning on page 90.
“It
is in the best interest of the entire county to bring clarity to the situation
and a realistic look at the facts,” the grand jury report said.
The
city of Clearlake, however, said the report didn’t do that. In a statement
released in response to the report, the city said the report had “multiple
conflicts with previous findings from the Grand Jury,” and it faulted the
report for using data that contains “errors and misrepresentations.”
The
grand jury said the facts and figures about tax default properties aren’t
accurate and came from “a singular secondary source” that wasn’t properly
vetted. That source isn’t named.
“The
city would like the public to understand that in spite of what is reported by
the Grand Jury we believe the information provided to the city is accurate and
representative of the problem surrounding tax delinquent and defaulted property
throughout Lake County,” said Cremer in a statement issued by the city.
He
said the data for delinquent and defaulted properties within the city of
Clearlake was provided directly to the city by the Tax Collector’s Office on
Aug. 2, 2019. He said the county provided complete data on the delinquent and
defaulted properties throughout Lake County on Jan. 13.
“We
have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the data provided by the county,
however, if there is conflicting information within the county database related
to tax-delinquent or defaulted properties, we would request that data be
provided to the city,” Cremer said.
The
grand jury went on to say that the city’s targeting of Ringen as “negligent,”
“willfully failing to perform official functions,” and breaching breached
fiduciary responsibilities “was inappropriate, lacked any real understanding of
the on-going realities of management of that official’s office, and was made
without any direct face-to-face contact to try to generate such understanding
in the generation of such accusations.”
The
report also addressed the Teeter Plan, designed in 1949 to allow counties to
cover property tax payment delinquencies through existing fund reserves or
short-term borrowing.
In
addition, the grand jury referred to the “floated concept of a lawsuit to try
to attain certain specific goals.”
“As
of this writing, no formal action has been filed with the court. This concept
has been advanced to the local media and into social media only. It has made a
notable uptick in commentary – and concern – on both platforms. The basis of
the concept is ~1,000 city of Clearlake properties to be put on the auction
block by November or face the lawsuit. This goal is virtually impossible to
achieve and would have limited effect,” the report said.
The
report goes on to state, “The Grand Jury believes the elected officials in the
City of Clearlake, after being presented with a concept, entered into this with
the correct intentions of maximizing the potential funding available for their
city. However, the incorrect numbers cited to them and the exaggerated effects
of certain programs and possibilities created a belief in financial
possibilities that could not, with proper vetting and understanding, be
supported. A clearer understanding of the facts can allow them to refocus their
talents and efforts into areas that can produce more tangible results across a
wide swath of government responsibilities for the citizens that elected them.”
Among
its findings, the grand jury found “a sizable ‘backlog’ of property tax default
parcels for a number of years,” with that backlog stable at about 4,200
properties for some time but now growing at about 325 parcels a year; higher
priority projects have been put ahead of the processing of default properties;
and it would take two completely dedicated staff members to handle the
year-to-year growth of the number of default parcels and reduce the backlog.
The
report’s findings also claim that “Data was transferred from a staff position
inside of the County Administration Office to a staff position inside of the
City of Clearlake that was not properly vetted for accuracy, applicability to
the over-riding issue, and not passed by the appropriate elected official
ultimately responsible for that data.”
The
grand jury report further states that “a group of elected city officials issued
written ‘claims’ against a county-wide elected official and distributed these
claims to multiple governmental groups (both inside of Lake County and in
Sacramento.) It occurred that there was a ‘leakage’ of these claims to the
local press and social media without performing a reasonable set of fact
checking nor any sourcing of second and third party independent corroboration
of the data and the assumptions upon which those claims were based.”
Regarding
the vague allegations about “leakage” to the local press, the grand jury
offered no evidence to back that claim.
In
its recommendations, the grand jury said the County Administrative Office
should “review and enact enhanced controls over data dissemination to
departments not normally utilizing such data and to any non-county public or
private entities,” and that two dedicated and trained staff members should be
added to the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office to focus exclusively on the tax
default auction process.
It
also recommended that “All elected city officials and elected county officials
should exercise extreme prudence in making disparaging claims (be they in
public or to other governmental agencies) against the performance or
motivations of any other elected official. If such claims are to be made,
multiple/independent verifications of information/data supporting such claims
should be fully explored.”
The
grand jury concluded by suggesting a regular meeting between city and county
officials. “The purpose of this meeting will be to bring matters of mutual
concern to light and explore proactive and cooperative means of addressing
these concerns.”
City
disputes findings
Cremer
said it was frustrating that the grand jury was not precise in discussing the
sourcing of data the city has been relying on for its analysis, “which contrary
to their statements was received directly from the county.”
He
called it “increasingly perplexing” that the grand jury decided to eliminate
properties without access, utilities, etc. from being included on its “tax
default” list.
“No
detailed information is provided on what methodology was used for this
determination. The City understands that there are many ‘paper parcels’ in Lake
County that have little value and may be difficult to sell, however, this does
not remove the property owner’s obligation to pay taxes on the property, nor
does it remove the County Tax Collector’s obligation to offer them at auction
if considered in tax default status,” said Cremer.
“We
are relying on accurate county data in determining the scope of the problem and
working with the county on a mutually beneficial path forward,” said Slooten.
“However, the grand jury’s report lacks any discussion around the statutory
responsibility of the tax collector to sell tax defaulted properties within
certain timelines.”
Slooten
said it is one of the key responsibilities of the grand jury to determine if
official duties are being lawfully carried out. “Accordingly, the data provided
to the city reflect that 4,243 properties countywide have not met the
obligation to be offered for sale consistent with state law.”
Cremer
said the city intends to provide a detailed response to the grand jury report.
He said that, through its website, the city will provide the public access to
the raw data that was provided to the city from the county and further relied
upon by the city in its analysis.
“This
is not an issue that was conjured by the city, we believe it warrants more
resources and commitment from both the tax collector and the Board of
Supervisors in order to successfully solve this problem,” Cremer said.
He
added, “The city of Clearlake has been and remains committed to actively
participating in a real solution to Lake County’s tax default quagmire, the
county just needs to take it more seriously.”
Lake
County News
Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com
July 16, 2020
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