TAX CLAIM BUREAU
Department of Finance and Administration
Sue Ellen Kingan, Tax Claims Director Greene County Office Building, 1st Floor
93 East High Street, Waynesburg, PA 15370
Phone: 724-852-5232 / Fax: 724-852-5293
Office Hours: 8:30 a.m.—4:30 p.m., Monday—Friday
Office Overview:
The Tax Claim Bureau was established under Act 542 of 1947 (the purpose of Act 542 is to promptly return properties with delinquent real estate taxes to the productive tax rolls. The act also provides a uniform system of eliminating title disputes and solving problems that had arisen from the previous system) for the consolidation of all delinquent real-estate tax claims into one agency as a convenience to local officials, property owners, prospective purchasers and title searchers. The Bureau collects delinquent real-estate county, municipality and school taxes and gives receipts. The monies are then distributed back to the various taxing bodies.
Property Sales:
The Tax Claim Bureau conducts upset, judicial and private sales of unpaid real-estate tax properties during the year.
Upset Sale: Properties that have two or more years’ worth of delinquent taxes are sold at the annual upset sale every September. Properties exposed at the upset sale are offered together with any mortgages, judgments or non-tax liens. Properties offered are sold at a bid equal to or higher than the amount of outstanding taxes, bureau costs and any municipal liens. An upset sale becomes final after confirmation by the Court of Common Pleas.
Judicial Sale: Properties not sold at the upset sale become eligible for judicial sale. The Bureau makes a current owner title search. All known holders of mortgages, judgments or liens are notified that, by order of the Court of Common Pleas, the property will be offered for sale divested of all mortgages, judgments and liens.
Private Sale: Properties not sold at judicial sale are placed in a "repository" status. This in effect is a bank of unsold properties. The Bureau may negotiate a private sale of any property held in the repository.
The annual upset sale is held every September in an effort to recoup some of the taxes owed to various taxing bodies. Included in this sale are properties whose taxes from two years ago remain unpaid. After the Bureau sends several notices to the property owners by mail, the properties are advertised in the Public Notice section of local newspapers. Most of the parcels never make it to the auction block, as most property owners either pay the taxes or make arrangements to pay to thwart the sale of their property.
The starting bids on the properties that make it to the auction are based on the amount of taxes owed. If no one ventures the minimum bid, the property goes unsold. Properties that do not sell at the upset sale are eventually sold at a judicial sale, in which parcels are offered free and clear of any tax and municipal claims, mortgages, liens and charges and estates of any kind, except ground rents separately taxed. These sales transfer non-taxpaying properties back into the current tax rolls and are used to pay off all taxes and to offset the cost of the auction.
After conducting and exposing a property to a judicial sale, any property remaining unsold shall be placed in a "repository of unsold properties.” A list of these properties is available in the Tax Claim Bureau.
Unpaid Taxes:
Unpaid taxes are filed in the Tax Claim Bureau Jan. 15 of each year. Once taxes are filed with the Bureau, partial payments can be paid. If a tax is unpaid after two years with the Bureau and three years after it was issued, the property is exposed to the annual upset sale. The Tax Claim Bureau enters into a legal agreement with the property owners in which they pay 25 percent down followed by three additional payments. In order to assure that property owners are aware of the potential sale of their real estate, the Bureau sends certified restricted notification, posts the premises and advertises the properties in local papers.
Pennsylvania Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program:
Claimants or spouses 65 years of age or older; widows or widowers 50 years of age or older; and the permanently disabled 18 years of age or older may qualify for the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program. In addition, the law gives even more tax relief to the seniors in most need.
Property Tax/Rent Rebate application forms and assistance are available at no cost from Department of Revenue district offices, local Area Agencies on Aging, senior centers and state legislators’ offices.
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For general information, please contact the Information Services at 724-852-5399 / Toll Free: 1-888-852-5399. County Office Building, 93 E. High Street, Waynesburg, PA 15370
