Mt. Carmel directors delinquent

Mount Carmel Area (MCA) School Board member Eric P. Belfanti says he is making payments on his delinquent property tax bill that landed him on the Northumberland County Tax Claim Bureau's recent "upset sale" list.

Belfanti, who won't lose his house to the tax claim bureau because he is making payments toward the $8,357.66 total, has endured public criticism since the list was published in local newspapers Aug. 21. However, he is just one of three MCA board members who have been delinquent on taxes since 2005.

'Affected by the economy'

According to information obtained from the Northumberland County Tax Claim Bureau, Belfanti and his wife have been delinquent each year since 2005 on their property at 123 Washington Drive in Den-Mar Gardens, Mount Carmel Township.

Belfanti was frank when questioned about it.

"I was affected by the economy as much as a lot of other people," he said earlier this week.

A son of state Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr., he said he has several hundred-thousand dollars in student loans from college and law school that add up to $2,000 in monthly payments.

Furthermore, he said, his job as a financial adviser at Edward Jones in Bloomsburg is 100 percent commission.

"I would never be eligible for unemployment compensation. I just have to take the lump on the chin in the bad months," he said.

A property is added to the upset sale list after property taxes are delinquent for two years. The bureau's notification warns owners that their properties are "about to be sold without your consent" for delinquent taxes, and includes instructions on what to do to "save your property." The next county upset sale is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 22.

Belfanti's is among the properties that has been removed from the recent list - which included approximately 800 properties - because owners took action. The advertisement showed he owed $8,357.66 before he started the payment plan.

That sum and those of others listed for upset sale includes all previous unpaid taxes, plus what is owed for 2010. In Belfanti's case, the tax office listed that he still owed $2,048.61 on his 2009 taxes as of Tuesday. Property owners have until Dec. 31 to pay their 2010 county bills before they become delinquent.

Belfanti has been vocal at times on the need to raise taxes for the good of public education, and he said he stands by that conviction.

"Even though I knew I was having a difficult time with my taxes, I still voted to increase school taxes because of the need to do so, knowing I would further jeopardize my own finances," he said. "In other words, I put the students and the school district before my own family."

Others late, too

While admitting his tax delinquency, Belfanti was quick to accuse fellow board member Dr. Raymond Kraynak, with whom he often disagrees, of facilitating negative comments. And yet, Belfanti said, Kraynak has had similar problems.

"I am at the beginning of my career and Dr. Kraynak is much more established as a physician. I would beg to question what's his excuse," he said.

In August 2008, a Kulpmont property listed as owned by Kraynak and his wife was on the county upset sale list. However, like in Belfanti's case, the taxes were paid before the upset sale. Taxes were delinquent on that same property in 2004, 2006 and 2007, according to county records.

A message was left at Kraynak's doctor's office Tuesday seeking comment, but he did not return the call. On Wednesday, he was not in, The News-Item was told.

Rose Marquardt, former board president and current member, has had cases of delinquencies from 2005 to 2009 on a property she owns at 134 N. Market St., Mount Carmel. However, the property never made the upset sale list; she paid the taxes before it came to that.

"I had my own problems. I lost my job (last year when she retired as Northumberland County clerk) and money was tight," Marquardt said Tuesday.

Marquardt, who now lives at 3 Montana Drive, Den-Mar Gardens, and pastors at a trio of churches, said she had allowed people to live in her Mount Carmel house, but they were only paying utilities, while she tried to make the tax payments.

On Tuesday, the property in question had $1,015.24 owed in 2009 taxes. Another check Wednesday showed the tax was paid.

5 to 7 notices

Prior to a property being added to the upset sale list, each owner receives multiple notices, said tax claims director Jan Nestico.

In January, local tax collectors begin turning over delinquent accounts to the bureau from the previous year. In February, reminders are sent to property owners and interest begins to accumulate. In May, return and claim notices are sent.

In June, for those properties in their second year of delinquency, upset sale notices are mailed. In August, the publication of upset sale properties is made in at least two county newspapers and the county law journal, at least 30 days prior to the sale, and, on a set date in September, any property with two-year-old delinquent taxes is part of the upset sale.

"They get between five and seven notifications before the property goes up for sale," said Nestico.

By law, the tax claim bureau is also required to post a notice of the delinquency on the property.

All properties on the upset sale are not sold free and clear.

"It is buyer beware," said Nestico.

Those properties not sold through upset sale then become part of a judicial sale, where the new owner assumes no responsibility for past liens.