“Sometime in the future that property will change hands and when it does it becomes enforceable,” City Manager Jeff Brown said, “we will get 100 percent of that money back.”
The commission has four different options on the table from two collection companies. The first three are from Municipal Capital Recovery, which presented a collection plan to the city in late October.
1. The city gets $80,000 up front and after $160,000 is collected, will receive 20 percent of future collections.
2. The city gets $25,000 up front and after $50,000 is collected, receives a 70 percent share of future earnings.
3. The city gets $60,000 up front with 60 percent of earnings after $120,000.
4. TCB Services Incorporated is offering the city 70 percent of the collections with no money up front.
Code enforcement officer Lance Livingston provided documents stating the city has $360,059 in open liens dating back to 2006.
Brown was unsure what liens might be targeted and thus what amount might be targeted. Brown said a 20 percent split for the city on the total amount is not a favorable deal.
But
“These liens sit on the books for years,” he said.
The city is trying to speed up that process on large liens dating back a few years. On actions like demolishing an unsafe structure, the city can file a special assessment, moving payments to the property owners’ tax rolls as soon as 2016. However, Brown said the assessment process is not possible on liens that go all the way back to 2006.
MCR owner Jai Heinberg said his company would not be able to collect all the city’s liens. The successful business model for his company is properly identifying liens that would be easy to collect.
“We can do things the city can’t do,” Heinberg said.
Brown added that it is impossible to collect on properties that are homesteaded, and the city collects on average about $12,000 a year on liens.
The City Commission meets Tuesday at 8 a.m. at City Hall.