Oakland County treasurer visits homes at risk of tax foreclosure

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (WJBK) - Homes at risk of tax foreclosure in Oakland County will be getting house calls before the March 31 deadline hits.

As a last resort, Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner is knocking on the doors of homes overdue on property taxes.

"I personally visit properties where somebody is living there and has fallen behind and we don't have a payment plan in place to try to avoid them losing their property," Meisner said.

After sending homeowners notice after notice in the mail, this is the county's way to meet these people in person and give them one last chance to pay up.

"We're doing everything we can to prevent foreclosure," Meisner said.

The number of houses foreclosed in Oakland County has widely fluctuated since the recession, which caused the county to lose $14 billion in taxable value since 2008.

"Every single foreclosure really poses a risk to our property values and our taxable value," Meisner said. "That's what we use to pay for police, fire and first response."

He said he plans to keep knocking on doors until the deadline on March 31st.

"By making sure that the person that owes the money pays the delinquent taxes it avoids that burden being shifted onto the rest of us who maybe did pay on time," Meisner said.