Property auctions to decrease blight, increase city funds

Date: 3/1/2011

March 2, 2011

By Katelyn Gendron

Assistant Managing Editor

WESTFIELD — City officials are looking to clean up neighborhoods and add a few dollars to the municipal coffers in the process.

The blighted property at 21 Miller St. will be auctioned March 2 and Mayor Daniel Knapik is hoping for several more of the city's possession properties to be auctioned off this year, including those on Elm and School streets and Beverly Drive.

"Most importantly, [this auction] returns a nice piece of property back to a residential setting and it's not blight to the neighborhood. The revenue to the city is definitely second [in importance]," the mayor said. "We try not to be overly aggressive. The key with housing is that we try to work with the property owner to get them back on the tax rolls and put them on a payment schedule. You don't want to evict someone and turn someone's world upside down."

Knapik noted the city has possessed the property at 21 Miller St. for more than five years.

Westfield currently has approximately 150 properties in tax title and about 70 more possession properties, according to City Treasurer Gregory Kallfa. The majority of the possession properties, he noted, are strictly land without existing residential or commercial structures.

Kallfa explained that tax title properties are those in which a lien has been placed on a person's property due to his or her failure to pay real estate taxes. A possession property is one that has gone into foreclosure and the city has had to go to land court to gain ownership of the property.

Thousands in back taxes are owed to the city on possession and tax title properties, including $60,000 for 21 Miller St., $32,000 on 90 Beverly Drive and $127,000 for the former City Cleaners property on School Street.

Knapik said he is hoping to demolish the City Cleaners building at some point this year, as well as conduct environmental studies to ensure there no toxins or chemicals in the ground.

"Commercial/industrial property becomes a potential environmental liability and the city would have to incur all costs to clean it up," he explained.

Kallfa said with each auction the city hopes to make back at least what is owed in back taxes.