Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora had first raised the issue with the board in September, with the Clearlake City Council holding a special November meeting in which it approved sending letters to the Board of Supervisors, the Lake County Civil Grand Jury, the California State Controller, California State Treasurer, California Board of Equalization and the California Attorney General’s Office asking that Lake County Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen be investigated, as Lake County News has reported.
Ringen and one of her staffers were on hand for the Tuesday discussion, as were Flora and two of his council members – Clearlake Mayor Russell Cremer and Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten.
Board Vice Chair Bruno Sabatier led the discussion, responding to a series of questions and requests that the city of Clearlake’s letter raised.
Among the city’s requests was that an additional tax sale be held in 2020, with no fewer than 1,500 tax-defaulted properties to be sold. Sabatier said an additional sale can’t be done without extra staff, and to do such a large sale – when a total of 300 are scheduled for a spring sale that’s planned – isn’t feasible. A second tax sale is being considered for 2021.
The city also had asked for reduced fees on eligible properties and to pursue any and all options for reducing gridlock. On the former matter, Sabatier said it could impact the Teeter fund, which allows jurisdictions to allocate delinquent property tax revenues, and additional staffing was needed to address the former.
In addition, the city had asked for various state agencies and the Lake County Civil Grand Jury to investigate Ringen “for negligence of statutory responsibility to conduct regular tax sales,
initiating any action necessary for a future remedy.”
“We want to make sure that we solve this problem,” said Sabatier in response to the request for an investigation, adding they could take actions like a vote of no confidence but that they wanted to be solution-oriented.
Supervisor Rob Brown, who along with Sabatier sits on a board-appointed ad hoc committee to work with Ringen on issues concerning her office, said Ringen is not fighting them.
He said regarding any issues going on with Ringen’s office, “It’s our obligation to make a commitment to fill that gap.”
The city of Clearlake also had asked for a review of the Teeter Fund balance, as well as the revenue into the fund over the past 10 years, payments from the fund to taxing entities over the past 10 years and payments to the general fund over the past 10 years.
Auditor-Controller/County Clerk Cathy Saderlund said she was there primarily to assure the board that she will come back to them for a “Teeter 101” presentation. At that time she said she will provide the 10-year request, which is a “weighty,” and added that she hadn’t been aware it was on the agenda.
Saderlund said she had been concerned about numbers being circulated in the community.
The number for Teeter delinquencies is nowhere near what Saderlund said she was hearing, noting that the delinquent secured roll as of June 2019 is $9 million, not $18 million.
The city’s November letter gave the total defaulted amount currently due as $18.3 million countywide, a figure Sabatier also had stated in previous meetings. However, neither the city nor Sabatier had given that figure as for Teeter alone.
Saderlund said there are other charges that the Board of Supervisors has no control over, including bonds, nuisance abatement and fire fees.
Flora, who was invited to speak, said he wasn’t sure what to respond to.
“My question is, what’s the plan?” Flora said. “We’ve laid out the gravity of the situation, which we feel like the Board of Supervisors should have even more of a concern about than the city of Clearlake.”
Flora said that, as of Tuesday, 25 percent of all Clearlake properties are at some level of tax delinquency. He then presented a printout of all of them, totaling 625 pages printed on both sides that was about three inches thick.
“If we don’t take this more seriously and do something about this problem, it’s going to cause great harm to the city,” Flora said.
Flora said there were a lot of smart people in the room who could figure out the situation, and the city of Clearlake remains willing to help.
Sabatier suggested opening up a seat for the city of Clearlake on the ad hoc committee that’s working with Ringen’s office. Board Chair Moke Simon said that suggestion could be brought back for further discussion.
Sabatier said he wanted consensus to bring back the proposal to discuss it. County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson, who also sits on the ad hoc committee, said she wanted the committee to discuss it before putting it on the agenda.
A five-year plan to address the number of tax-defaulted properties was raised during the meeting, which the board members appeared to support.
Simon said there may be opportunities for contracting out the sales. “We do all take it seriously.”
“The city trusts Vice Chair Sabatier’s involvement in this,” said Flora, adding he hopes the full board shares that commitment.
“The city council is very motivated to find a solution to this issue. We need to see progress,” Flora said, adding that if they don’t, they will have to look at other options.
Brown said he’s committed and that he’s spoken with Ringen. “She’s committed to it as well,” he said, explaining that the board needs to work with her to provide her with the resources.
Sabatier said he wanted Ringen to go through the numbers for tax-defaulted properties and totals owed, which she said she could do.
Ringen also explained that the tax sale scheduled for March has been extended into early May, and she would return in February with the resolution for the sale.
She said she is dedicated to solving the issues surrounding tax-defaulted properties, adding she didn’t see why they couldn’t make improvements and that it is possible to look at doing another tax sale after the tax year ends June 30, once there is more staffing.
“Let’s make that happen. Let’s make that a goal,” said Sabatier. He said that the county has been averaging around 70 tax sales per year, but in the year 2013 did 201.
Supervisor Tina Scott said she also is committed to solving the issue and agreed with Brown about needing to provide Ringen with resources.
During public comment, Michael Green criticized the city of Clearlake for attacking Ringen’s character, stating that the issues with the tax-defaulted properties have been years in the making.
He said the city of Clearlake and Flora owed Ringen an apology, and asked the board to stand up and show solidarity for her.
Brown said everyone knows there has been an issue with tax-defaulted properties. “It has gone back for a long time.”
He said they needed to focus on moving forward with a five-year and even a 10-year plan.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
BOS Tax Collector Letter 11-20-19 by LakeCoNews on Scribd