Mahoning County Treasurer Lisa Antonini showed some of the first half tax bills for 2009, all for Oakhill Renaissance Place.
Nothing's been paid on them since the county purchased Oakhill, and Antonini said they now total more than $920,000, of which more than $700,000 would go to the Youngstown City Schools.
In May, the state's Board of Tax Appeal denied an exemption for the property, which commissioners purchased in 2006. At that time, the state had determined Oakhill's former owners, the Southside Community Development Corporation, were not exempt. Treasurer John Reardon warned commissioners they would be liable for Oakhill's outstanding debts, and now Antonini claims the overdue bill's not going away.
"There are no more options," she said.
For now, Antonini is sending a letter to commissioners asking how they plan to pay the bill, something the president of the Youngstown Board of Education said he'd like to know too, saying "seeing as though we're a district that's in fiscal emergency."
Something that isn't lost in all of this, we're perhaps only days away from learning what sort of charges will be coming from a two-year old investigation of the Oakhill purchase, and the actions of a number of current and former office holders and others in trying to prevent it.
The Mahoning County Grand Jury that's been hearing evidence in that case is expected to release its findings later this week.
