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A 2 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, April 18, 2000 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Township targets $7.8 million in unpaid taxes By John B. McClelland Port Perry Star Scugog Township is taking measures to track down unpaid property taxes, a meeting of the finance committee was told Monday morning. Township treasurer Kathy McCann told committee members that staff from her department have recently been contacting mortgage holders to let them know that a property owner has fallen into serious tax arrears. It is hoped this step will spur delin- quent taxpayers to make arrangements to pay down the balance owing to the municipality. A report submitted to the commit- tee on Monday shows more than $7.8 million in outstanding property taxes is now owed to Scugog Township, almost $900,000 more than what was owed at this time last year. The vast majority of that $7.8 million total is owed for the 1999 tax year There are a couple of reasons for that, according to the report from the trea- sury department. First, the commercial property tax bills were not sent out until late in the year and second, the total overall levy in the last four years has gone up some 10.6 per cent. If taxes on a property are not paid for four years, the township has the legal right to start the process to put it up for sale. And unpaid taxes are sub- ject to an annual 15 per cent penalty charge. In response to questions from the committee on Monday, finance chair Ken Gadsden said this 15 per cent penalty charge usually serves as a strong incentive for property owners to make payments. And he noted that the township gets its money eventually, when the proper- ty comes up for sale. Tax arrears must be paid in full before the sale goes through. Ms McCann told the committee that if a property does come up for registra- tion, Scugog conducts what is called an "environmental check" to make sure it is not facing a large cost to clean up the land before it can be sold. Some municipalities have had the mis-fortune to seize a property for back taxes only to find it was once used for dumping, or storing heavy metals or other toxic materials, she said. The land must be completely free of any toxic materials before the provin- cial environment ministry will allow ownership to be transferred. erp 7 need some mspiration S-- 3 Now that you're inspired...you raed VISIT... HOME SOURCE Fashion Trends for Kitc clement | louse Shops hen » Bed « Bath RTH STREET parking lot Bail hearing for man accused in scam set over A bail hearing for a 26- year-old Port Perry man charged with 87 fraud related offenses has been held over until April 25. David William Sanderson of Rosa St. made a brief appearance to have his matter spoken to Friday (April 14). A pub- lication ban prohibits reporting of-details of the hearing. Durham Regional Police allege that some- one used three local gas bar locations to illegally obtain credit card infor- mation. That information was used to purchase items later, police allege. An investigation by Durham Regional Police, assisted by TD Visa Security, identified the three gas bars - including one that was recently the target of a suspicious fire - as possible locations used to "skim" credit card infor- mation between December 1999 and February 2000. The inves- tigation was triggered on Feb. 28 when police seized two credit cards alleged to be fraudulent and arrested a suspect. That investigation led to the arrest of Mr Sanderson on 71 counts of- possession of credit card data; three counts of pos- session of a credit card skimmer; two counts of use of a stolen credit card; two counts of possession of a stolen credit card;'two counts of obstruct justice; two counts of intimida- tion; trafficking in credit card data; attempted fraud under $5,000; fraud over $5,000; fraud under $5,000, and threatening. Sgt. Tom Andrews of Port Perry's 26 Division said "the investigation is still ongoing" and would not rule out the possibility that more charges could be laid in the matter. Mr. Sanderson has been in custody since March 30, on unrelated matters. A media ban pre- vents detailing of court proceedings at this time, and none of the allega- tions have been proven in a court. Food drive in high gear Operation Scugog is once again holding its Spring Food Drive, an annual effort used to fill the shelves at the local food bank. Donations will be accepted at both Scugog Fire Department sta- tions (Port Perry and Caesarea) on April 20 and 21 from | p.m. to 6 p.m. and on April 22 from 9am. to4 p.m. "What we get from our spring drive usually will last us for six months to October and our Thanksgiving drive," vol- unteer Anne Wanninkhof said of the spring drive, which has been held for more than 10 years now. "The shelves are not in too bad of shape right now, the schools and the churches have been really helping out to keep them full." Items needed include luncheon snacks, cereal, peanut butter and jam, spaghetti sauce, an apple juice. For further informa- tion, call Anne at 985- 7271 or Kathryn Gundry at 985-8015. --- ee. me TTT TTT TETETETTETTTE rr rT rr rr Tr TTT TET TE TTY