YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mahoning County would have to wait two years – and be on the hook for nearly $2 million dollars – before it could take action against the owner of Southern Park Mall for failure to pay its property taxes, county Treasurer Dan Yemma said.
Yemma said Friday morning he has not heard from representatives of Kohan Retail Investment Group since the company’s third attempt to pay what it owed for its first-half taxes was rejected Thursday for insufficient funds.
“Yeah, it’s a mess,” he remarked.
Kohan Retail submitted a payment of approximately $480,000 on the two largest of the seven parcels that comprise the Southern Park Mall property, which included the base payment plus a 10% penalty on the taxes, which were due March 1, Yemma said. The payment was rejected two days later.
A representative of the company contacted the treasurer’s office June 25 to find out what all it owed, and Yemma emailed all the bills for all seven parcels, the treasurer said. Kohan then submitted a payment June 30 for the same amount as the first but just directed to the largest parcel, which a Kohan representative reached out July 3 to report would not be good because of a “bank error.”
The representative then said Kohan Retail was sending another payment using a different bank account that she assured Yemma would be good. The treasurer’s office received the notice Thursday that the payment was being rejected for insufficient funds.
“Legally, you can’t initiate anything until the taxpayer is certified delinquent,” he said. “In order to be certified delinquent, you must be two years delinquent.”
More than half – or 57.51% – of the property taxes collected goes to schools, while the township receives 21.59%, according to the county auditor’s site. Other beneficiaries include the Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Mahoning County Children’s Services, Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County and Mill Creek and Boardman parks.
Like Yemma, Boardman Township Administrator Jason Loree said he has not heard from Kohan Retail.
“They have not reached out to us. We have reached out to them. We’ve not gotten calls back,” he said.
He also lamented there was little the township could do in the situation.
“I can’t force people to pay their property taxes. There are a bunch of delinquent property tax owners all throughout the county,” he said.
Most businesses usually are good about reaching out to the county if they are having problems meeting their tax obligations, Yemma said.
“They usually communicate with us, and then we work with them,” he said. Kohan has “made it worse on themselves” by continually bouncing checks and not communicating with county officials.