The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
On the agenda is the discussion and possible action related to county sales of tax-defaulted properties.
In September, Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora went to the Board of Supervisors to raise issue with the lack of tax sales, as Lake County News has reported.
Flora told the board that there are 3,400 properties of almost 17,000 properties in the city of Clearlake – or about 20 percent of all of the city’s properties – that are at some level of tax default, with a total debt of $5.3 million. Some of the properties have been in default since 1981.
He also told the board that 1,500 parcels, or 9 percent of the city’s properties, have been in default for five years or more and are now eligible for tax sale, with $1.74 million owed.
The county has a tax sale planned for March, with a total of 300 properties slated for sale, according to Treasurer-Collector Barbara Ringen’s statements at the September meeting. She said that number was what the board budgeted.
In his report to the council, City Manager Alan Flora wrote, “The City has been advocating County officials, including the Tax Collector, for sale of tax defaulted properties. A tax sale has been tentatively scheduled for March 2020, but it is still uncertain what properties within the City will be included in the sale. Regardless of what happens in March of 2020 the County’s response over the past several years has not made any significant progress in addressing the problem. The City needs to pursue any available remedies to address this issue in the future and return properties to the tax roll.”
Flora will ask the council to approve the submittal of letters to the Board of Supervisors requesting that it take action to facilitate additional properties being offered for tax sale to be signed by the full city council.
He’s also requesting that letters be prepared and sent to agencies including – but not limited to – the Lake County Civil Grand Jury, the California State Controller, California State Treasurer, California Board of Equalization and the California Attorney General requesting an investigation into Ringen’s “actions related to the lack of tax sales.”
In other business on Wednesday, the council also is expected to approve two consent agenda items, approval of a contract with Caltronics Business Systems for copy machines for the police department and city administration, and the award of a construction contract to RO Construction for the Senior center portable restroom.
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112019 Special Clearlake City Council Agenda Packet by LakeCoNews on Scribd