Clearlake disputes findings on auctions
City officials noted data has been provided by the County of Lake, with Clearlake specific information provided by the county’s Tax Collector’s Office
Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of articles recapping the findings and recommendations presented by the 2019-2020 Grand Jury Report.
Clearlake City officials took exception to a portion of the 2019-20 Civil Grand Jury Report which, according to city leadership, was critical of the information the city has been relying on, data officials noted “was provided directly by the County of Lake with Clearlake specific information provided by the county’s tax collector’s office.”
The Grand Jury’s examination was detailed in their report released last week in an eight page chapter entitled “Tax Default Auctions” in which the watchdog organization looked at the issue through the prism of four areas: the actual tax default property situation, a complaint letter issued in November 2019 by Clearlake city officials which referenced the job duties of Treasurer/Tax Collector Barbara Ringen, the historical Teeter Plan, and a possible lawsuit, which according to the Grand Jury, would aim to attain certain specific goals in these arenas.
The Grand Jury’s analysis found among other conclusions that there has been a “sizable ‘backlog’ of property tax default parcels for a number of years, that the size of the backlog was stable at about 4,200 for most of that time but is now growing by about 325 parcels per year, and that data was transferred from a staff position inside the County’s Administration Office to a staff position inside the city of Clearlake without first being properly vetted for accuracy, applicability to the over-riding issue, and not passed by the appropriate elected official ultimately responsible for the data.
Among a number of recommendations to address the problem of tax defaulted properties, the Grand Jury suggested county administration review and enact “enhanced controls over data dissemination” to departments not normally utilizing such data and to any noncounty public or private entities, the addition of two dedicated and trained staff members to the Treasurer/Tax Collector’s office dedicated exclusively on the tax default auction process, and the scheduling of a meeting of representatives consisting of members of the Clearlake City Council, Lake County Board of Supervisors and the Lakeport City Council, among other suggested actions.
“It is in the best interest of the entire county to bring clarity to the situation and a realistic look at the facts,” noted the Grand Jury in their report adding that the “facts and figures” cited in the original letters from city officials to multiple governance groups “are not accurate because they are based on data obtained from a singular secondary source.”
Among statements gleaned from their analysis, the Grand Jury’s report disputes the figure of 12,500 tax defaulted properties throughout the county as stated in the city’s initial letter, writing the actual figure is closer to 5,448.
Clearlake officials countered by stating that the 2019-20 Grand Jury report appears to have multiple conflicts with previous findings from the Grand Jury, and that the apparent data analyzed this year, contains errors and misrepresentations.
“While the Clearlake City Council will provide a full and detailed response directly to the 2019-20 report, the deficiency of the report warrants a timelier response for the public to consider,” wrote city officials in an official communication from the city earlier this week. Pursuant to Penal Code section 933(c), Clearlake City Council, similar to other government agencies, must legally respond to the Grand Jury’s report within 90 calendar days of the Grand Jury’s issuing their findings.
“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,” retorted Clearlake Mayor Russ Cremer adding that, “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.”
Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora said Thursday that city officials found it frustrating that the sale of the tax defaulted properties has been further delayed. Since the deadline for a proposed tax sale in March of a couple of hundred properties was not met, according to Flora, city officials were told the county was trying to do something about the problem by October of this year.
“Other counties delayed their tax sales due to COVID-19, while others pushed ahead with them,” said Flora, adding that Clearlake’s city leadership was frustrated with the delay in the process. Flora said no lawsuit as referenced by the Grand Jury has been filed yet by the city, although city officials are still open to the idea. “We feel the Board of Supervisors and the tax collector aren’t taking this seriously, it’s extremely important to the council that it happens.”
“The legal remedy would be asking the court to mandate the tax collector uphold her responsibility to hold regular tax sales,” said Flora adding that the State Controller’s Office is still in the process of making a determination on whether or not to open a formal investigation.