YOUNGSTOWN — The city of Youngstown owns more parcels on the delinquent tax list in Mahoning County than any other property owner.

The city is delinquent on paying property taxes on more than 150 parcels it owns, primarily through its land bank.

The list, compiled by the county auditor’s office, was published recently in The Vindicator. Three city council members and the city law director also are on the list.

The land bank, called the City of Youngstown Land Reutilization Program in the listing, had about 150 delinquencies. Most of them were for under $100 with the most being $9,218.23 owed for a property on Hilton Avenue.

When the city accepts properties for the land bank, it is responsible for any delinquent taxes as well as any other unpaid assessments, said Finance Director Kyle Miasek.

“We’ve got to make that restitution,” he said. “We are responsible for those. When the properties were transferred, the bills weren’t paid, and they will be in the first quarter of next year.”

The unpaid taxes were supposed to be paid earlier this year.

Also, the city is delinquent on nine other properties it owns that weren’t transferred to the land bank.

Those delinquencies range from $4.91 to $615.82.

These are properties, including the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre, for which the city made improvements and failed to file for a tax exemption, Miasek said.

“We need to request exemptions, and we haven’t yet,” he said. “When that happens, the properties will be exempted, and the city won’t have to pay the taxes.”

The property in Youngstown with the largest unpaid delinquent tax bill is Heritage Apartments at 600 Granada Ave. Heritage Youngstown Limited Partnership, which owns the complex for seniors and the disabled, owes $51,268.11 in unpaid taxes, according to the tax listing.

Attempts to contact the company for comment were unsuccessful.

To get on the delinquent tax list, a property owner has to have failed to pay taxes for the past year, said county Auditor Ralph Meacham. But that means if a property owner didn’t make the most recent payment, which was due Aug. 6 and is for the second half of 2020, that person or business makes the list.

Those who owe at least $2 in delinquent taxes or other property assessments are on the list, Meacham said. Other assessments could be for unpaid demolitions, for a property being boarded up or for not paying when high grass is mowed by a municipality, he said.

AUDITOR EXPLANATION

The delinquent property owners needed to pay their tax bills due earlier this year including the most recent one that had to be paid in August, Meacham said.

The auditor’s office usually waits until around Oct. 28 to accept payment to keep delinquent property owners off the list published in the newspaper, but extended it this year to Nov. 14, he said.

The list doesn’t include those who were on previously published lists and still haven’t paid their taxes, Meacham said.

When the list is published, numerous people pay their late taxes, Meacham said.

“People get this and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, I should pay this,'” he said. “We get a lot of people who pay. It works.”

An updated list will be published Dec. 21.

One of those property owners that paid its taxes too late to not be removed from the list recently published is the Youngstown Stambaugh Hotel LLC, which owns the downtown building that houses the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel.

The business owed $30,463.21 in property taxes it didn’t pay in time.

Steve Mitchell, the hotel’s general manager, said a check for that amount was sent Nov. 10.

Meacham said the check was posted Nov. 16, which is two days after the cutoff date. Youngstown Stambaugh will not be included on the second list.

CITY OFFICIALS

Three city council members and the law director made the list.

Councilwoman Lauren McNally, D-5th Ward, was shown owing $1,722.24 in property taxes on her Cherokee Drive home.

McNally explained that she refinanced her mortgage in March, and her bank stopped paying property taxes out of her payments.

McNally said she didn’t realize it until she saw her name on the list published in The Vindicator and paid it that day.

“It was just an oversight by the bank,” she said. “I wasn’t delinquent. The taxes were paid in March. I’m late because I didn’t know it wasn’t paid. I had to pay a 10 percent late fee.”

Delinquent taxes for Law Director Jeff Limbian as well as council members Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, and Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, were considerably smaller.

Limbian and his sister, Leslie, were listed for owing $186.36 on a Shawnee Trail property where Leslie and their mother reside.

“My sister is in the process of selling that house,” Limbian said. “My name is on the title, but I have nothing to do with it.”

When told by a Vindicator reporter about the outstanding bill, Limbian paid it.

Davis owed $14.61 for a small undeveloped property on Mistletoe Avenue near her home. She’s owned the parcel for nearly 32 years.

Davis seemed to take offense at questions asking why she is delinquent.

“Are you seriously asking me about $14?” she asked. “I can’t believe you’re asking me about a $14 bill. You’re actually asking me about $14?”

Davis said the nonpayment was an “oversight.”

She told a reporter: “You write your article however you choose to about my $14 delinquency. I’m not giving you a comment on my $14 oversight. I can’t believe you’re asking me about it.”

Hughes and his wife, Juanita, owe $2.32 on a house on Oak Street, near their home. It is 33 cents above the $2 threshold to get published on the delinquent list.

dskolnick@vindy.com