Questions, complaints arise from county tax auction
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MAYVILLE - A Clymer property that was initially sold at the county auction has been pulled from getting final approval, at least temporarily.
During the Chautauqua County Legislature meeting, Darlene Bolsover expressed concerns over a property in Clymer that she has won through the county tax auction.
"The process for the property in which I was active in had a great deal of issues," she said.
Bolsover said the property she was bidding on had stopped at $119,300 against a number of bidders. However an online bidder continued to bid on the property, driving up the cost to $177,000.
Bolsover alleged that the online bidder that she was competing against was the previous owner of the property. She noted that by law, a person who has lost his/her property through taxes cannot own that property for a minimum of three years.
Bolsover noted that a law has been passed that any profits go back to the original owners. Therefore, when the original owners of the property that she was bidding on bid against her, they were driving up the price, creating a surplus for themselves.
"Chautauqua County doesn't have protections for bidders. It doesn't have protections that a prior owner couldn't make out over $70,000 and have contact with a person purchasing that property to cause emotional distress or things like that, saying 'Haha I'm getting to pocket your money,'" she said during the public portion of the meeting.
Also during the legislature meeting, Kerry Vasquez-Marte who lives at 927 Route 39, Forestville, alleged to the full legislature that her property had been illegally subdivided and was denied the right to pay the taxes on it.
She had previously shared her complaints at the legislature's Administrative Services Committee meeting.
When the time came for the full legislature to vote on the resolution to authorize the sales, Legislator Bob Scudder, R-Fredonia, asked that the property Bolsover had bid on be pulled from the list, until the situation could be investigated further.
"I think a wrong has happened here and this is an opportunity to look into it and possibly correct it," he said.
The full legislature agreed to remove the Clymer property from the list.
That was the only property that was removed before the full legislature voted on the resolution.
When the time came to vote on the remaining sales, the resolution was approved by a 15-2 vote, with Legislators Tom Harmon, R-Silver Creek, and Lisa Vanstrom, R-West Ellicott voting no.
After the legislature meeting, Vanstrom said she's heard of too many concerns regarding the last tax auction.
"It felt like this year there were too many annoyed or perpetrated with their experiences," she said.
Harmon had a similar opinion.
"There's just too many questions, too many inconsistencies. I didn't feel comfortable voting yes," he said.
With the resolution's approval, the county legislature approved the tax auction of 130 different properties.