IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA CIVIL ACTION - LAW
IN RE: Lancaster County Tax Claim : Bureau Upset Tax Sales to be held on : No. September 21, 2020 :
JOINT PETITION TO STAY 2020 UPSET TAX SALES PURSUANT TO 72 P.S. §5860.601(c)
1. Petitioners are the Treasurer of the County of Lancaster, Pennsylvania and the below identified taxing authorities of the political subdivisions within Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Petitioners”); specifically:
Adamstown Borough, Akron Borough, Bart Township, Brecknock Township, Caernarvon Township, Christiana Borough, Clay Township, East Cocalico Township, West Cocalico Township, Colerain Township, Columbia Borough, Conestoga Township, Conoy Township, Denver Borough, East Donegal Township, West Donegal Township, Drumore Township, East Drumore Township, Earl Township, East Earl Township, West Earl Township, East Petersburg Borough, Eden Township, Elizabeth Township, Elizabethtown Borough, Ephrata Borough, Fulton Township, East Hempfield Township, West Hempfield Township, East Lampeter Township, West Lampeter Township, Lancaster City, Lancaster Township, Leacock Township, Upper Leacock Township, Lititz Borough, Little Britain Township, Manheim Township, Manheim Borough, Manor Township, Marietta Borough, Martic Township, Millersville Borough, Mount Joy Borough, Mount Joy Township, Mountville Borough, New Holland Borough, Paradise Township, Penn Township, Pequea Township, Providence Township, Quarryville Borough, Rapho Township, Sadsbury Township, Salisbury Township, Strasburg Borough, Strasburg Township, Terre Hill Borough Warwick Township
and
Cocalico School District, Columbia School District, Donegal School District, Eastern Lancaster County School District, Elizabethtown Area School District, Ephrata Area School District, Hempfield School District, Lampeter-Strasburg School District, Manheim Central School District, Manheim Township School District, Penn Manor School District, Pequea Valley School District, School District of Lancaster, Warwick School District, Octorara School District, and 1
Conestoga Valley School District
2. Pursuant to the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, the Lancaster County Tax Claim
Bureau (hereinafter the “Bureau”) is required to expose certain real estate tax parcels to Upset
Tax Sales which are presently scheduled to be held September 21, 2020, at 9:30 a.m. in the
Lancaster County Government Center, 150 N. Queen St., Rm. 102, Lancaster, PA.
3. A list of the current tax parcels to be exposed to the aforementioned Upset Tax
Sales is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference as Exhibit “A” (the “2020 Upset
Tax Sale List”).
4. Based in part upon the present recommendations of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention regarding COVID-19, the Order of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Regarding the Closure of All Business that are not Life Sustaining dated March
19, 2020, the March 16, 2020 Order of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declaring a general, statewide judicial emergency and this Court’s March 17, 2020 Declaration of Judicial
Emergency for the Second Judicial District, Petitioners herein jointly request that this Court stay the 2020 Upset Tax sales of the parcels currently on the 2020 Upset Tax Sale List.
5. This Court has the authority and jurisdiction to enter the stay requested herein pursuant to 72 P.S. §5860.601(c).
6. Petitioners further jointly request that the Upset Tax Sales of the parcels on the
2020 Upset Tax Sale List be stayed for a period not to exceed one year from the time fixed pursuant to 72 P.S. §5860.601(a) for such Upset Sales.
WHEREFORE, the Petitioners herein jointly and respectfully request that the Court: 1) enter a stay of the Upset Tax Sales for the parcels on the 2020 Upset Tax Sale list; and 2) 2
continue the Upset Tax Sales for the parcels on the 2020 Upset Tax Sale list for a period not to exceed one year from the time frame fixed pursuant to 72 P.S. §5860.601(a) for such Upset
Sales.
Respectfully Submitted,
Date: ______By: ______, Esquire Solicitor for the Lancaster County Treasurer
212 North Queen Street Lancaster, PA17603 Telephone: (717) 299-3726
3
Adamstown Borough East Cocalico Township
______
By: By:
Akron Borough West Cocalico Township
______
By: By:
Bart Township Colerain Township
______
By: By:
Brecknock Township Columbia Borough
______
By: By:
Caernarvon Township Conestoga Township
______
By: By:
Christiana Borough Conoy Township
______
By: By:
Clay Township Denver Borough
______
By: By:
East Donegal Township East Petersburg Borough
______
By: By:
West Donegal Township Eden Township
______
By: By:
Drumore Township Elizabeth Township
______
By: By:
East Drumore Township Elizabethtown Borough
______
By: By:
Earl Township Ephrata Borough
______
By: By:
East Earl Township Fulton Township
______
By: By:
West Earl Township East Hempfield Township
______
By: By:
West Hempfield Township Lititz Borough
______
By: By:
East Lampeter Township Little Britain Township
______
By: By:
West Lampeter Township Manheim Township
______
By: By:
Lancaster City Manheim Borough
______
By: By:
Lancaster Township Manor Township
______
By: By:
Leacock Township Marietta Borough
______
By: By:
Upper Leacock Township Martic Township
______
By: By:
Millersville Borough Pequea Township
______
By: By:
Mount Joy Borough Providence Township
______
By: By:
Mount Joy Township Quarryville Borough
______
By: By:
Mountville Borough Rapho Township
______
By: By:
New Holland Borough Sadsbury Township
______
By: By:
Paradise Township Salisbury Township
______
By: By:
Penn Township Strasburg Borough
______
By: By:
Strasburg Township
______
By:
Terre Hill Borough
______
By:
Warwick Township
______
By:
Cocalico School District Lampeter-Strasburg School District
______
By: By:
Columbia School District Manheim Central School District
______
By: By:
Donegal School District Manheim Township School District
______
By: By:
Eastern Lancaster County School District Penn Manor School District
______
By: By:
Elizabethtown Area School District Pequea Valley School District
______
By: By:
Ephrata Area School District School District of Lancaster
______
By: By:
Hempfield School District Warwick School District
______
By: By:
Octorara School District
______
By:
Conestoga Valley School District
______
By:
The County of Lancaster Office of the County Treasurer 150 North Queen Street, Suite 122 Lancaster, PA 17608-1447
AMBER L. MARTIN COUNTY TREASURER PHONE 717-299-8226 FAX 717-390-2319 www.co.lancaster.pa.us
Office of the County Treasurer
Date: March 25, 2020 Topic(s): 2020 Property Tax Relief Proposal & 2020 Upset & Judicial Tax Sales Purpose: Recognizing the state of emergency we are currently in and the mandated interventions that have led to economic harm to so many families, it is prudent for Lancaster County government officials to act. I believe it is imperative to find ways to ease the financial pressures that Lancaster County families may face due to loss of jobs, reduced incomes, or inability to work because of the virus. Within the first 72 hours of Governor Wolf’s mandated shut-down of “non-life sustaining businesses” about 180,000 Pennsylvanians filed for unemployment – a number that is expected to continue to climb. Since Friday, March 20, 2020, the Lancaster County Treasurer’s Office has received over 136 calls and/or emails from concerned property tax payers, inquiring about any prospective relief. Item 1: Applicable Facts & Options: A. Current Property Tax Payment Structure • 2% Discount if taxes are paid by April 30th • Base amount of taxes owed if paid by June 30th • 10% Penalty if taxes are paid after June 30th
B. 2020 County Budget Revenue Projections • 2020 Real Estate Revenue - $121,110,737 • 2020 Budgeted Delinquent Taxes - $2,134,000 (2019 actual collected $1,869,965.40 in delinquent taxes)
C. Current Tax Collector vs. County Treasurer Collected Information • 18 Municipalities with Elected Tax Collectors • 42 Municipalities collected by the Treasurer’s Office
D. 2019 Actuals for Trend Analysis & 2020 Assumptions
Page 1 of 4
• The 2019 annual duplicate (tax revenue) for the tax collectors’ districts had 55,596 parcels, totaling $38,627,537.79 and a total of $34,352,274.95 was collected at discount. In conclusion, 90.75% of the tax-collector taxes were collected at discount. • In 2019, according to one of our internal Treasurer reports, the County Treasurer collected & deposited 109,477 parcels by April 30th for discount. This figure would represent approx. 84% of the total county-collected taxable parcels, however, the count would include interim payments as well. • From Feb. 2019 – April 2019, county & municipal real estate taxes collected through the Treasurer’s office was $104,171,360.32 • In 2019, the three largest mortgage companies (which mail the county bulk taxes): Wells Fargo, Core Logic, and Lereta sent 44,000 payments, totaling over 35 million dollars within the discount period. • The County Treasurer predicts that the County will receive 2020 electronic data files and electronic ACH payment credits to the general fund bank account in April. Currently, subject to change, the County Treasurer should be receiving Wells Fargo’s bulk payments around April 6th, Core Logic’s bulk payments around April 9th and Lereta’s bulk payments around April 24th. • For 2020, there are 186,258 taxable parcels.
E. 2020 Cash-Flow • Currently, the County of Lancaster has approximately 64 million dollars between the General Fund and Investment Fund Accounts. Treasurer Martin has agreements in place with all banking institutions that all accounts will provide instant liquidity, without penalties, should economic conditions require. • To date, the county has received 24,186 county collected duplicate and interim parcel payments through 03-23-20. • January 2020 and February 2020 Weekly Accounts Payable
• (Jan. 6th – Jan. 10th) = $6mil. (3mil. weekly accounts payable + 3mil. payroll). • (Jan. 13th – Jan. 17th) =$4mil. weekly accounts payable • (Jan. 20th – Jan. 24th) =$5.3mil. (2.3mil. weekly accounts payable + 3mil. payroll). • (Jan. 27th – Jan. 31st) =$4.6mil. weekly accounts payable • (Feb. 3rd – Feb. 7th) =$5.1mil. (2.1mil. weekly accounts payable + 3mil. payroll). • (Feb. 10th – Feb. 14th) =$3.8mil. weekly accounts payable • (Feb. 17th – Feb. 21st) =$6.2mil. (3.2mil. weekly accounts payable + 3mil. payroll). • (Feb. 24th – Feb. 28th) =$5.8mil. (2.3mil. debt svc. + 3.5mil. weekly accounts payable).
*Please note that these are rounded totals, using the weekly accounts payable report, provided by the Controller and for payroll, provided by the Controller. **These totals do not include the daily expenditures or the weekly ach reports however, they should give you good totals to work with. Obviously, if you want to drill town further, the Controller should be able to provide you with further expenditures. I use these figures strictly to help determine if our GF account has enough funding to meet our demands.
$$
Page 2 of 4
F. Legal Considerations • Local tax collection is legislatively prescribed by the Act of May 25,1945 (P.L. 1050, NO. 394), known as the Local Tax Collection Law. The law is written as such: § 5511.10. Discounts; penalties; notice (a) The rates of discounts and penalties on taxes shall be established by the taxing district. All taxpayers subject to the payment of taxes, assessed by any taxing district, shall be entitled to a discount of at least two per centum from the amount of such tax upon making payment of the whole amount thereof within two months after the date of the tax notice. All taxpayers, who shall fail to make payment of any such taxes charged against them for four months after the date of the tax notice, shall be charged a penalty of up to ten per centum which penalty shall be added to the taxes by the tax collector and be collected by him. The provisions of this section shall apply to cities of the second class A. (b) If a taxpayer has not paid taxes on real estate within four months after the date of the tax notice… And “the ‘date of the tax notice’ stipulated in Section 10 has been interpreted to mean the date the notice is mailed to the taxpayer.” G. Lancaster County Treasurer’s Proposal Option 1: Extend the discount payment period until August 31st, implement the base period from September 1st until December 31st and only assign penalties if 2020 taxes are not paid/received before January 1, 2021. Option 2: No extension of the discount period and extend the base period until December 31, 2020 and only assess a 10% penalty for any taxes not received by December 31, 2020. *Both options would require municipal concurrence votes/ratification of either option above. **The Legislature would need to amend the Local Tax Collection Law. Both the House and the Senate should be moving bills within the next week. Item 2: Suspension of the 2020 Upset and Judicial Tax Sales A. Background • Upset Tax Sale – September 21 (taxes that are two years behind - so taxes 2018 and prior) Upset Tax Sale properties are subject to all liens, mortgages, and judgments against the property. • Judicial Tax Sale – November 16 (previously exposed properties that have gone thru the Upset Tax Sale process and were not sold, so now are placed in the Judicial Sale). Judicial Tax Sale is a free and clear sale starting with a certain bid price trying to start with the amount to cover the current and delinquent taxes on the property). There are 4 properties currently on the list. • To date, the 2020 Upset Tax Sale has 1,386 parcels totaling $611,499.43 in county funds scheduled for the September sale. B. Proposal • Proposed Joint Petition to Stay the 2020 Upset Tax Sale (please view attachments). • The administrative burden to seek the taxing authorities’ signatures would be placed on the County Treasurer.
Page 3 of 4
• The County Treasurer would be filing this petition jointly with the taxing authorities and political subdivisions identified in the petition (i.e. the local municipalities and school districts). • Once the petition is filed, the Court would be required to schedule and hold a hearing, at which time the Judge could enter the proposed order to stay and continue the 2020 Upset Tax Sales until the 2021 sale date. • Judicial Tax Sale Information per the Tax Claim Solicitor: Technically, the 2020 Judicial Tax sale has not yet been scheduled by the Court, so there is no present need for an order to continue or postpone the 2020 Judicial Sale. Currently, there are 4 properties on this year’s Judicial list. We would prepare and file a judicial tax sale petition for each of the 4 properties at which time the Court would typically enter a rule returnable at a hearing, which would usually occur in the beginning of September. Although, the tax claim bureau has not yet filed the judicial petitions, we have scheduled the dates for both the rule returnable hearing, which is scheduled for September 10th, and the Judicial tax sale, which is scheduled for November 16th. We schedule these dates in advance to ensure that both Judge Miller and the county conference room will be available and “reserved” for the Judicial Sale. Under RETSL, we/the Court has discretion as to the actual date of the judicial sale, and there is no requirement that the judicial sale must be held this year. The County has the option to suggest to the Court that a later date in 2021 would be appropriate, or in the alternative, we can delay the judicial process for a year.
Page 4 of 4