March 23, 2017 – West Bend, WI – The Washington County Board passed four resolutions this month that rescinded property sales made in February.
There were six resolutions passed by the County Board in February to sell six properties. The county had taken possession of the parcels because no taxes had been paid on them for five or more years. Daisy Hill Properties LLC, from Hartland, purchased most of the properties.
On March 14 the board was forced to rescind the sale of three properties to Daisy Hill Properties and another to Steve and Michelle Brandt for a total of $128,034.
According to Supervisor Tim Michalak, city of Hartford, there was an oversight by the County Treasurer’s Office in doing complete and thorough research for any liens or mortgages on the properties.
Michalak filed a request with the Human Resources Department to inquire how these four errors occurred.
Supervisor Chris Bossert thanked County Clerk Ashley Reichert and her staff for doing diligence and finding this problem.
Michalak state it appeared the four buyers were no longer interested in purchasing the properties and the county is out a fair amount of money due to the error.
The County Treasurer’s Office and County Administrator Joshua Schoemann referred all comments to County Attorney Bradley Stern.
“In light of the County Board’s action, I am reversing the tax deeds, so we’re conveying the properties back to the property owners,” said Stern. “Additionally, the successful bidders will receive refunds. For the Treasurer’s part, she is going to resend the Notice for Application of Tax Deed to the necessary parties to start that part of the process over again.”
Stern qualified the mistakes during the title searches as “simply the result of human error.”
Moving forward, the county indicated once the title searches are completed and clear of any mortgages, etc., the properties will again be listed for sale.
