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Financial troubles personal, fiscal officer says
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - February 25, 2009)
Financial troubles personal, fiscal officer says
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Chester Township Fiscal Officer Karen M.N. Austin acknowledged that she is having financial troubles. But they are personal, not township-related.
Records from the Geauga County Treasurer's Office show Mrs. Austin and her husband, James, have fallen behind on real-estate taxes on their home and a business property.
According to the records, the Austins are in arrears $39,571 on a commercial property at 8737 Mayfield Road (Route 322) and delinquent on another $8,151 on their home at 11490 Kristine Drive.
Mrs. Austin said Monday that she and her husband are experiencing difficult times with their personal finances, like millions of other Americans caught up in economic downturn.
"Jim and I are like millions of other Americans who are behind in bills because of the dire economic conditions, especially the depressed real-estate and commercial markets of Northeast Ohio," she said.
A lack of tenants at the commercial property for a lengthy period put the couple in a hole, Mrs. Austin said. "Our commercial parcel on Mayfield Road was vacant for 10 1/2 months of 2008, and we did not receive rent for four months of 2007. This resulted in approximately $69,000 of rent not collected. We also had to pay the mortgage payment for that time period which amounted to about $40,000. That amounts to a negative cash swing of $109,000."
Mrs. Austin also said a portion of the bill is attributed to an error made by the Geauga County Department of Water Resources, which added $12,941 toward the total bill.
"Their bills are assessed to our real-estate taxes when their bill isn't paid," she said. "On the advice of counsel, to have paid the assessed sewer charges would have been a de-facto acceptance of these charges. So this is part and parcel of our delinquent property-tax issue."
She said monitoring and metering equipment was installed at her and her husband's expense to help correct the errors.
"There should be a reduction in the special assessments on our property taxes of about $11,000 within the next 30 days," Mrs. Austin said. "We thank them for their assistance and diligence in correcting the errors," she said.
"Our real-estate delinquency started in July 2007, when we did not pay the special assessment from the department of water resources but paid all other real-estate taxes due," she said. "With no tenants or rent in 2008, the February, July 2008 and February 2009 real-estate taxes, we were unable to pay."
She said the couple was also unable to pay the February and July 2008 real estate taxes on their home.
"In February 2009, we paid our most recent home taxes timely. The real-estate taxes on our Chillicothe Road (Route 306) commercial property are current," she said.
"Our plan is, by July, we should be current on our home taxes and continue to be current on the Chillicothe Road commercial property and be working toward catching up on the delinquent Mayfield Road commercial parcel," Mrs. Austin said.
She said, even though they have found a tenant for the Mayfield Road commercial property, the economy has dictated less than what they have expected in the past. "We accepted their proposal even though the rent is substantially lower than rent has been in the past."
Mrs. Austin said the financial situation she and her husband find themselves in is not because they were irresponsible with the finances. "We are not independently wealthy," she said. "We don't go on lavish vacations, and we don't own lavish cars."
Mrs. Austin said the financial difficulties are not a reflection on the job she has of managing the township's finances. "It does not reflect on my integrity or reflect on the job I do for the township," she said. "It doesn't not in any way, shape or form say I am not doing my job correctly or honestly."
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