$20M+ In Uncollected Property Taxes Forces One County To Borrow Cash To Pay Bills

In Merced County, California, the Merced Sun Star reports:

• [I]n yet another sign that fallout from the foreclosure crisis is still far from over, about one in 12 Merced County landowners failed to pay tax bills this fiscal year. That means about $20.4 million in property taxes -- or about 8.3 percent of what the county billed -- are now past due.

• As a result, the county has had to borrow about $5 million to make payments to school districts, cities and other agencies to which it hands down property tax revenue, according to the county auditor's office. "I've never seen a situation like this -- a situation with so many delinquencies," said county treasurer-tax collector Karen Adams. "No one here has. We're trying to ease through it as best we can, but there's no question that we're in trouble."

For more, see Property taxes late; county has to borrow (Money has to be paid to other agencies but little's coming in).

In a somewhat related story in Merced County, California, see Merced Sun Star: Nearly 1 in 20 homes in Merced lost to foreclosure (County has highest rates in U.S., report says).