Mortgage defaults increase county’s uncollected taxes

The amount of unpaid property taxes in Whitman County rose to $859,413 in 2009.

That number was about $250,000 higher than the unpaid figure from 2008.

Treasurer Robert Lothspeich attributed the higher level of unpaid taxes this year to a higher level of mortgage defaults.

In total, Lothspeich’s office collected 97.46 percent of property taxes for a total of $33,003,951, according to a report submitted Monday to county commissioners by Kathy Lemon, revenue officer for the office.

In total, the county is owed $1,186,269 in unpaid taxes from prior years. Most of that is because the taxes are tie...