Simply
Relevant
Issues...
The 2010 Tax Sale Season was one of change both internally and for SRI’s client
counties! SRI’s new president, Tim Rushenberg, worked to improve the delegation
of counties to CSDs and improve accountability regarding assignments. We also had
clear cut goals that we set as a company for the tax sale.
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Every county official has heard stories of homestead fraud – that is, people who
claim a homestead on a property where they are not entitled to one. In Indiana,
for a property to receive the homestead deduction, the owner or owners must use
the property as their primary residence. There are, however, many people...
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SRI’s Sheriff Sale Program was created as a way to solve a problem that had become
a growing issue with our county treasurer clients. In 2003, as foreclosures were
growing in number, county treasurers were being faced with lawsuits over conflicting
deeds. Tax deeds and sheriff deeds were being….
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In 2006, the Indiana General Assembly modified existing law to allow Commissioners
to take immediate ownership of certificates after on offering that failed to bring
a bid. This was coupled with changes that permitted Commissioners to sell those
certificates in an expedited manner at any amount less than the original offering.
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SRI’s home state of Indiana, expects to experience growth in capability, competency,
support and executive level staff and further improve efficiency in 2011. SRI conducted
81 Tax Sales in 2010, the most in the company’s history, 75 of which were in Indiana
alone!
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A NOTE FROM THE FOUNDER
SRI is pleased to be able to offer you our first quarterly e-newsletter! My new status as Chairman and being a “Semi Retired Individual” (SRI) will give me the opportunity to do what I like best, which is to visit counties and talk to each of you about SRI’s goals. As always, we welcome your challenges to find ways to improve county and SRI operations and relations!
Under Tim Rushenberg’s guidance, everyone at SRI is working diligently toward the goal to “maximize technology in services to counties” and “find and implement programs that save our clients money or earn them money.” All of us know the financial position of nearly all counties and SRI is working to respond. Tim has been innovative in his past position as Indiana Department of Local Government Finance Commissioner and I’m confident he will bring the same creativeness to SRI. I am very pleased to have him at the helm of SRI and bringing our services to you.
We’re very excited at SRI to be starting the new year with fresh ideas and new opportunities!
BURGEONING BUSINESS: A MESSAGE FROM PRES. RUSHENBERG
It
has been a very fulfilling 10 months as president of SRI, Inc. 2010 was a great year for SRI, Inc. – the most successful in 21 years of serving local government! I expect us to offer even greater products and services to our clients in 2011 while we continue to deliver our customary high quality customer service, innovative software, auction experience, and Internet resources.
Tax Lien Sales
In 2010, we completed 75 Indiana county tax lien sales – the most SRI has completed in its history! As a result, we worked with our county auditor and treasurer clients to collect over $98.7 million in property taxes, costs, and penalties from property owners and lien buyers. Also, over $51.4 million in surplus (overbid) were collected from lien buyers at the tax sales, resulting in the collection of a total of over $150 million in property tax dollars for local government. The property tax dollars collected are delinquent taxes that local government desperately needs to ensure important services continue to be delivered to taxpayers.
SRI, Inc. also conducted tax lien sales for four counties in
Colorado – Jefferson, Pueblo, Alamosa, and Costilla. In partnership with our
Colorado county clients, we sold 4,686 tax liens and collected over $11.2 million
in property taxes, costs, penalties, and surplus for local government.
For our client Lenawee County, Michigan, we sold 37 deeds to parcels for a total of $358,000.
For St. John’s County, Florida, we sold 5,414 tax liens and collected over $15.5 million in
property taxes, costs, and penalties for local government.
We are very pleased to have such a close working relationship with county governments in four states to collect delinquent property tax dollars that are needed to fund important local government services. I expect even greater teamwork and effective collection efforts with county government in 2011 through our tax lien auction service!
Foreclosure Sales
In 2010, we conducted 3,631 foreclosure sales for 21 Indiana county sheriffs. The time and resources we save for our county sheriff clients allows them to more effectively focus on jail administration and other law enforcement activities. I am pleased to report that our good work for county sheriffs has been recognized. Early in 2011, we were offered and accepted an invitation from the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association (ISA) to become a Preferred Vendor! The ISA only offers this program to 10 vendors, so it is an honor for us to become a Preferred Vendor of such an effective and respected organization. We look forward to serving our county sheriff clients in 2011 and beyond!
Consulting Services
In 2010, we added a new consulting division with the primary purpose of assisting local governments to become more efficient and cost-effective in the delivery of services to taxpayers. We are very fortunate to have Tim Jorczak and Jeff Volz lead this new division of SRI, Inc. Assessors, auditors, and treasurers throughout Indiana know what dedicated and knowledgeable public servants Tim and Jeff are from their time at the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) as two of my key advisers during my tenure as DLGF Commissioner. What separates SRI Consulting from other firms is the experience of Tim and Jeff as two of Indiana’s most well-respected experts in property tax management. Together with our partners in county and municipal government, we will help ensure that taxpayer dollars are utilized as efficiently and effectively as possible through electronic property tax billing, circuit breaker/tax cap analysis, homestead fraud detection, project management, Information Technology (IT) support, and other services.
Asset Auctions Online, LLC
In 2010, we sold government-owned property for 19 units of government (two cities, one school, and 16 counties) in Indiana, which generated $220,000 in revenue for our local government clients. We sold everything from a cellular phone tower for Steuben County to sheriff cars for Elkhart County to industrial arts equipment for MSD Mount Vernon schools in Posey County.
In Florida, we worked for 11 county tax collectors to auction seized business personal property for the collection of over $1 million in delinquent business personal property taxes for local government.
2010 was a great year for SRI, Inc.! We enter 2011 excited to accomplish our mission of becoming a national leader in providing the public and private sector with high quality customer service, innovative software, auction experience, and Internet resources in the field of tax lien sales, foreclosure sales, asset liquidation sales, and consulting services that will save our clients money, improve efficiencies, and maximize revenues.