CANTON — St. Lawrence County will soon take control of a property on Water Street in Ogdensburg that was the site of a fatal fire in 2023.
The property, which is located at 926 South Water Street in the city, was a single family home that was destroyed by fire in June 2023, leaving a blighted property with no means of removal.
County Attorney Steve Button said the owner, Sally Lovely, has been tax delinquent on the property, owing $4,789.10 in taxes and $1,092.94 in interest, penalties and fees.
Following discussion from the City Council, city officials said they would solicit the county for assistance in cleaning up the location.
The property will see remediation through the county’s Blighted Property Program, which has cleaned up over 100 such properties throughout the county.
Button said Lovely will transfer the title to the property in lieu of foreclosure, essentially allowing the county to take control and significantly speed up the cleanup process.
He told legislators during the Aug. 25 Finance Committee meeting the county will be able to skip the petition and notice stage, legal requirements to foreclose on a tax delinquent property, knowing that the county would have to go through that process at some point in the future.
Button said Lovely informed him she was unable to pay for a clean up of the property and had “difficulty even looking at it.”
“It just so happens to be the type of property the blighted property program tackles, as well as in our target area,” Button said.
The county will accept the property in the foreclosure process, then clean up the remaining structure.
“This will permit us to move forward with a controlled remainder demolition, meaning we will tackle the demolition of the remaining structure on that property,” Button said.
Once clean-up is complete, the county will be able to put the property back on the tax roll through the county’s real property tax auction.
In a corresponding move, legislators also approved an agreement to enter into a contract with GCA Excavating & Land Clearing, LLC under the blighted property program for the demolition of the property.
“In this certain circumstance, the chair of the board was instrumental in securing individuals outside of our normal solicitations to be able to bid on this process. Thank you very much for assisting in tracking down folks who would be willing to help us with this process,” Button said.
County officials said such properties, like the one located at 926 South Water Street, prove to be a liability to the county and result in extra costs to maintain and continue to make local jurisdictions whole with respect to taxes assessed.
Button previously said the program was largely focused on smaller projects prior to his involvement beginning in 2015 when he was hired as county attorney.
But over the last 10 years, the county has been focused heavily on remediating properties to get them back on the tax rolls.
Stemming from tax foreclosure issues on a number of properties, county officials took the program to the level it is operating at currently to recoup expenses and back taxes.
Button said the county would be forced to carry the taxes on the property after making the municipality whole wherever the property was located.
With support from Gary Bowitch, former lead prosecutor for the Department of Environmental Conservation oil spill team, as well as the state Comptroller’s Office, the program enables the county to clean up properties that open municipalities up to liabilities.
The property is scheduled to be cleaned up by the end of the year.
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