Proposed tax sale change could spur Lake County development

Senate Bill 310 creates a three-year pilot program allowing Gary, and potentially Hammond and East Chicago, to establish "new opportunity areas" composed of multiple abandoned properties that would be sold as a group for redevelopment, instead of forcing developers to acquire lots individually at tax sales.

"It allows the city to group these parcels together and get a nice piece of property to offer at a public auction to try and get these properties back on the tax rolls," said state Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, a sponsor of the measure.

The legislation, which passed the Senate 50-0, is co-sponsored by state Sens. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, and Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago; and state Reps. Hal Slager, R-Schererville, and Vernon Smith, D-Gary.

Joe Van Dyk, Gary director of redevelopment and planning, told the committee Gary has at least 7,000 abandoned buildings in the city, many of which repeatedly cycle through the tax sale process because 95 percent of the time the properties don't sell.

"One in five parcels in Gary is on tax sale. ... No one claims them, no one cares for them," Van Dyk said. "We have a big empty city, and vacancy is a major issue."

Slager said if this idea leads to new development in Gary, "it makes the whole county stronger."

"This is something that we need to do," he said.

The measure also includes provisions to cut down on speculators who buy dozens of properties at tax sales but then fail to do anything with most of them, including pay property taxes, which just sends the parcels back to the tax sale list.

"We've got to get this property into the hands of the people who are able to pay so we can begin to stimulate (development)," Smith said. "We've got to do something drastic in Gary."

Prior to voting on the legislation next week, the House committee is expected to consider whether to allow other counties to get in on what the Senate decided should be a Lake County-only program.