The city plans to foreclose on three small properties that are delinquent on taxes.

City Council approved a resolution (AR-66-20) during its March 9 regular meeting authorizing the city attorney to “foreclose certain properties for delinquent taxes.”

The properties identified in the resolution are:

• Block 25, Lot 15 on Madison Avenue is assessed for $5,200 and generates annual property taxes of about $355. This appears to be an empty 70×100 lot at the corner of Madison Avenue and Albermarle Street.
• Block 158, Lot 4 at 1582-84 Elizabeth Ave. is a small lot between Irving and Main streets. Property records show it is owned by Euro Properties and generated annual property taxes of about $8,000 in 2017. Previously, it changed hands for $260,000 in 2007 but a building on the lot had been razed sometime in the last decade after structural issues following a fire. The 34×65 lot is assessed for $25,700, generating property taxes of $1,825.
• Block 166, Lot 14 at 530 Seminary Ave. is a narrow 23×132 strip at the corner of Cxhurch Street. Assessed for $11,700, the lot generates property taxes of about $800, according to property records, and last sold in 2013 for $75,000.

“We’re in a position to do in-rem foreclosure. You don’t wanna do in-rem on a piece of property that ultimately is going to cost you to either maintain or difficult to return to productive use,” City Administrator and Redevelopment Director Robert Landolfi said during a telephone interview late last month.

In-rem foreclosure means a lawsuit is “directed solely against a property instead of a person.”

If a piece of property can be developed, and no one’s paying taxes, then it would have a couple of different options after in-rem foreclosure, Landolfi said. The parcel would be analyzed to determine if it makes sense to go through in-rem, then decide if it lot would be land banked, he said. Earlier this month, City Council passed an ordinance establishing a land bank in the city.

“Some parcels that we’ve stopped collecting taxes on and no one’s picking up recent tax liens. Just doing in-rem and stopping that parcel from being taxed, there’s some benefit to that but you don’t want to pick up a real liability,” Landolfi said.