Bucks County Treasurer Kristian Ballerini was elected to her post in 2020, and in the fall of that year, the county commissioners moved to make Ballerini the director of the tax claim bureau as well. The tax claim bureau had previously answered to the county finance department. The bureau is the county agency responsible for tax sales of properties with at least 18 months of delinquent taxes. Any money left over after the taxes, mortgage and other liens are paid is returned to the original property owner, or the next rightful owner. After taking over the tax claim bureau, Ballerini learned of two bank accounts that had been holding proceeds from tax sales — and earning interest — for nearly 20 years. The money could have been returned to property owners years ago, Ballerini said. For three years Ballerini spent time in the tax claim bureau's warehouse, reviewing handwritten sale books that dated back to 1998, to determine the sources of funds that sat in the two accounts, which at their peak totaled more than $800,000. She attempted to reconcile the accounts, matching funds to sold parcels, identifying parcel owners that had not been paid and tracking down the correct recipients of the funds. The treasurer was left with $326,000 with no identifiable source. That money is now being distributed to school districts and municipalities, with judicial approval. The treasurer's office has created new policies to ensure that the same oversight does not happen again. Read more from the Bucks County Courier Times.
Source: Bucks County Courier Times; 9/1/2024