Photo Courtesy Terry Links/Executive Assistant to Gila County District 2 Supervisor Tim Humphrey: Gila County District 2 Supervisor Tim Humphrey stands in front of a pile of refuse.
Op-Ed By Gila County District 2 Supervisor Tim Humphrey
My quest to clean up trashy/blighted properties has been challenging.
First, I fought for Dollar Dump Day, then changed policies enabling Code Enforcement to summon a property owner to appear before a subcontracted Hearing Officer licensed with the State of Arizona to conduct hearings.
If the Hearing Officer imposed a fine and the property owner did not pay, they could then be turned over to a collection agency.
Then I ran into two issues that staff and I are trying to get through.
One issue is that in some cases the blighted property’s owner has passed away, so there is no owner of record responsible for the property to issue a citation to.
A family member or someone else is paying the property tax which prevents the property from being sold at auction for a tax lien.
The second issue is properties that have been sold at a tax lien auction.
After three years, the buyer can foreclose on the properties and own them.
If the buyer does not foreclose and becomes the legal owner, they can leave the property in an unowned status for up to 10 years.
This property is located at 4362 and 4368 E. Copper Street and is one of those properties.
This property could have been foreclosed on in 2021, which means this property can stay in limbo until 2031 providing the sub-tax is paid.
A portion of this property became so bad that we were able to have the Health Department deem it a health hazard.
This allowed us to clean it up, but only the portion that created the health hazard.
I am thankful for County Management, the Health Department, and the County Attorney’s office for trying to help deal with the obstacles that rural counties must deal with due to State laws.
All of us who own property pay taxes and are liable for the property we own.
It is my opinion that if you are paying property taxes on property in Arizona, you should be held liable.
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
