Westshire Farms behind on municipal payments

Between the town and lake district, more than $300K is owed

By Michael S. Hoey

Correspondent

Westshire Farms senior community at 5680 Parliament Ln. in the Town of Delavan is behind on payments owed to the Town of Delavan and the Delavan Lake Sanitary District.

The development, owned by Senior Housing Developers at Delavan, LLC, is behind on payments for 2017 and 2018 to the town and 2016-18 to the DLSD.

Town of Delavan Administrator John Olson said the development is a tax exempt entity, so municipal fees are paid in lieu of taxes. He said arrangements like that are common between municipalities and tax exempt entities.

Olson said the property is served by private roads so the town does not perform any road maintenance or snow removal. The fees cover other public services like police, fire, and emergency medical services and the improvement of town roads, parks, and other existing or future public facilities.

Olson said the development has missed payments due on Jan. 31 of each year since 2013 and liens were placed on the property in each of those years, though payments were always caught up on – and the liens released – until recently.

Senior Housing Developers has not caught up the last two years and owes the town $36,739 for 2017 and $93,499 for 2018, according to Olson. He said 18 percent interest gets added on to what is owed and new liens were placed on the property as a result of the missed payments. Olson said it is unusual for property owners to be that far behind on its municipal payments. Olson had no data for 2019 yet because that payment is not due to the town until January 31, 2020.

According to Olson, if payment is not received by the town, the lien would be collected from the sale of the property or any part of the property. The town can also use a special assessment that would create, in essence, a tax bill for the property. If it chooses to do the latter and the special assessment is not paid, the town would use its existing delinquent taxes procedure to collect what is owed.

Olson said the town’s attorney does not see any scenario in which the town would take over ownership of the property. Instead, if a tax foreclosure were to take place, the property would be sold at public auction with the sales price being applied to the debt owed the town.

DLSD Administrator James De Luca said Senior Housing Developers at Delavan owes the DLSD $50,800 for 2016, $47,562 for 2017, $46,329 for 2018, and $47,260 so far for 2019.

De Luca said notices that were sent to Senior Housing Developers at Delavan have been ignored and the debts have been placed on the tax bill. The DLSD also filed a lawsuit against the company last month.

Several attempts to reach the owners of Westshire Farms for comment were unsuccessful.

One Comment

  1. This is 100% the government overreaching its boundaries. This Jon Olson sounds like a thief to me. Watch who buys this property. I bet they have ties to Mr. Olson. I hope the owners stand up to these bullies.

    Furthermore the article said Mr Olson says the fees are to pay for things in the town such as road maintenance and parks. Police and fire, etc. I would say that is what taxes pay for. So then why would they have to pay it if they are tax exempt?