August 10, 2017
HORNELL, NY – Hornell Mayor Shawn Hogan and Code Enforcement officer Bud Burdette were very pleased to inform the Public Safety board that the number of zombie properties in the city has decreased considerably.
After originally having 37 vacant properties, 19 or over 51% have been eliminated. Burdette said they accomplished this by working with the banks and landlords. “It’s a slow process,” said Burdette, especially dealing with the banks, but our effort is paying off. One major reason for the decline is the implementation of the Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP).
Hogan also added that another major reason for the high number of abandoned properties in the city is failure to pay property taxes which then makes the county enforce their tax liens. “It’s about a two year period for people to lose their property and in the third year it will go up for auction,” explained the Mayor. Hogan said that there are many programs to assist homeowners and they should explore them before giving up on their properties.
In other new there were four potential firemen being interviewed for two open vacancies. They will be taking over for retiring Steve Foster and Josh Proudy. Hogan said that a decision could possibly be reached by the end of the day.
