The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1905-06-23

VIII Save Many Homes From Loss
For Delinquent Taxes.

Gentlemen:-I desire to submit for
your consideration, through the proper
committee. crude outline of an amend
ment which in my humble opinion
should be tackled on the existing tax
law.
At least twenty days, and not more
than thirty days, before the day set for
the commencement of the states an
nual tax sale, the owner, or owners. of
each piece or parcel of property, whose
taxes are then delinquent and subject
to sale at the next ensuing annual tax
sale, shall be served with printed
notice to that effect, giving date and
place of such sale, together with de-,
scription of property and amount of
delinquent tax. Said notice shall in,
clude a full statement of all the provis-
ions of the existing law relating to
state tax sales, with the penalties fully
explained, and shall be sent by regis
tered mail to the last known address of
the owner or owners, by the county
treasurer Of the county in which the
delinquent property is located, and the
cost thereof, not to exceed the sum of
twenty-five cents, for each parcel of
land subject to sale, shall be added to
the tax and be lien against the prop
erty.
In my humble judgment such pro-
vision would be the means of saving
many dollars and not a few homes to
the people Of our state, who through
temporary misfortune, ignorance of the
law, inability, or even carelessness have
allowed their taxes to become delin-
quent, and are at present forced to
either pay 100 per cent premium and
COSTS or sacrifice their homes.
Respectfully submitted,
JOSEPH w. FoRDNEY.
The bill was introduced in 1908 but
failed to pass and therefore Mr.. Fordney
took the matter up with Senator Baird
this year and he introdu ,ed bill that,
although opposed by those who profit
by the delinquent tax business, was so
apparently proper measure and one
that would save hundreds Of poor tax
payers from losses of their homes or
from being compelled to mortgage
them to pay the tax buyer his penalty,
that it was given majority and the
bill has received the approval of the
governor.
So far as the old law is concerned its
intent is all right but in practice it is
sadly deficient. The law requires that
every piece of land which is to be sold
by the state for delinquent taxes shall
be advertised for FIVE weeks in one of
the county papers in the county in
which it is situated. This, however,
does not give the publicity or the in
formation which it is supposed to give.
The pieces of property to be sold are
advertised by their legal descriptions
alone and the owners name is nowhere
mentioned. This method Of procedure
may hold the property hard and fast
enough after 1t has been sold but who is
there who reads this article who knows
the description of his own home lot or
the other pieces of property he may be
fortunate enough to own2 1t is safe to
say that of the people who even see the
advertised list of property to be sold for
taxes not five per cent could tell with
out looking up their deeds whether
their own property were included in the
sale or not. The amendment to the
law proposed by Mr.. Fordney does
away with any such liability almost en-
tirely. The amended section is as fol-
lows:
Section 61a. AS soon as the Auditor
Generals petition, with list of delin-
quent'tax lands, is filed with the regis
ter in chancery under the provisions of
section sixty-one of this act, and not
less than thirty days before the date
fixed for the annual tax sale, the county
treasurer shall notify the owner or own
ers so far as possible, of each piece or
parcel Of property whose taxes are then
delinquent and subject to sale at the
next ensuing annual tax sale, by mail
ing to the last known address of such
owner or owners a notice in substan-
TALLY the following form:
Sir
You are hereby notified that sale
oflands for delinquent taxes of 10
and prior years will be made at the
county treasurer's Office on tho
day of May, 10 A list of such lands
with years taxes is published in the
-,a newspaper published at
---, Michigan. Whether you
are uncertain Of having paid your taxes
or not, you should avoid the possibility
Of sale by procuring copy of such
paper and examining the descriptions to
ascertain If your lands are to be sold.
Payment or redemption may be made Of
the county treasurer at any time prior
to the day Of sale.
Very truly yours,