Warren County Treasurer Danielle Cox says there is a new law regarding the loss of a home due to unpaid taxes and the remaining equity. Cox says she recommends Warren County work with a trustee which recognizes House Bill 4537 and brings the state into compliance with the 2023 high court decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, which ruled that in taking property, state governments must give owners the value that exceeds the amount owed in taxes.
“I took this law to Finance, Finance made a motion to bring this to the full Board, and I recommended going the trustee option route under the new law. To give everybody a backstory on what the trustee does, when taxes become delinquent and nobody purchases that property at the tax sale, the County can take tax certificates as a trustee for the local taxing districts. The goal isn’t for Warren County to own people’s property, it is to get the delinquent taxes resolved, get that property back on the tax role, to either a new owner or to the homeowner itself.”
Warren County currently utilizes a trustee with the Josephine Meyer Company in Southern Illinois since 2002. More information about Josephine Meyer can be found on their website at https://josephemeyer.com/. For more information regarding the Supreme Court ruling regarding Tyler vs. Hennepin County, visit https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-lawmakers-finally-pass-bill-to-end-home-equity-theft/.
