Nearly 100 homes saved from auction after Republic story
Yury Lopez wiped away sleep from working the previous night’s nursing shift as she opened the door to her Tempe mobile home.
Christmas lights still hung on the front of the cream trailer with rose-colored trim. A Bougainvillea vine grew in the front yard.
Two employees with the Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office, standing on the porch, warned Lopez she might soon lose the home. The county planned to auction it off in a week for unpaid property taxes.
Ron Bellus, one of the county employees, assured her: “We’re here so that doesn’t happen.”
Lopez was grateful.
She had recently learned that her landlord had stopped paying taxes on the home, putting her in danger of being kicked out. She wasn’t sure what to do.
With help from the Treasurer’s Office, she pledged to take quick action to cover the payments, save the home and deal with the landlord later.
“That’s good that you’re here,” she told Bellus. “It’s really, really helpful.”
‘There are options’
Nearly 100 Phoenix-area residents like Lopez have paid their taxes and saved their mobile homes from auction in the past six months, the Treasurer’s Office said. It has launched a campaign to talk to every person in danger of get
ting kicked out.
“We don’t want anyone to lose their home,” said Bellus, who wears a gold badge with the agency’s logo on his belt. “We try to put them at ease right away, and let them know there are options.”
Some residents tell the Treasurer’s Office they had no idea they owed taxes, he said. Others are relieved to learn they can set up a payment plan. All it takes is a phone call or in-person visit, he said.
“They’re scared to death,” Bellus said. “One man was literally shaking. After we talked to him, you could see the relief in his face. He stopped shaking and he started tearing up.”
Republic investigation inspires help
The program started in response to an Arizona Republic investigation.
The Republic’s Call For Action team discovered in July that a miscommunication between county agencies caused a disabled veteran to lose his Mesa mobile home at a tax auction even though he had paid the few hundred dollars that were due.
The stories led to a lawsuit that eventually invalidated the sale and allowed Jim Boerner to keep his home.
The Treasurer’s Office promised to fix communication issues and went further by implementing the visitation program.
“To me, it’s worth it,” Treasurer Royce Flora said. “That’s our job. Everybody here believes homes are sacred, and people should be given every opportunity to keep them.”
Proposed changes in state law
State Rep. Bob Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, intends to push for additional protections for mobile-home owners at the Legislature this year, with Flora’s support. Two of the proposals include:
❚ Giving mobile-home owners two years to pay off unpaid taxes. Currently, single-family homeowners have five years to pay back taxes before foreclosure but mobile homes can be auctioned immediately after tax payments are late.
“We need to make sure there is enough of a grace period, similar to a stick-built home, so a person with a fixed income is not going to lose their home out from under them,” Thorpe said.
❚ Transferring responsibility for conducting mobile-home tax auctions from the Maricopa County Sheriff ’s Office to the Treasurer’s Office, putting tax collectors in charge of collecting taxes from auction.
The Sheriff’s Office is “law enforcement. They’re not auctioneers,” Bellus said.
Flora is also hoping lawmakers will consider other changes, but several of these ideas have failed to gain traction during past sessions.
❚ Starting mobile-home tax auction prices at the full cash value, instead of at the amount of taxes owed. If someone loses their home, at least they would receive back the equity they put into it, Bellus said. But Thorpe said it may not be feasible because the prices would be so high no one would bid.
❚ Spending $1 million in state funds to subsidize property taxes for poor seniors, whether they own a mobile home or not. Cuts to subsidies in recent years caused some poor seniors’ tax bills to double.
❚ Moving poor seniors’ homes to a different property classification to reduce their taxes.
Whether Arizona changes laws or not, the Treasurer’s Office plans to keep visiting mobile homes to ensure people behind on their taxes know how to save their home.
“We want to make sure we don’t miss anybody,” Bellus said. “Kicking someone out of their home doesn’t help much.”
Set up a payment plan for late taxes
If you are late paying your property taxes, you can set up a payment plan to save your home from a tax auction. Call the Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office at 602-372-0122.
Beware of scammers
The Treasurer’s Office will never ask you to pay overdue taxes at the door. If someone demands you hand over money, shut the door.