Lorain County collected $18 million in delinquent real estate taxes in 2024

Lorain County collected $18 million in delinquent real estate taxes in 2024, county Treasurer Dan Talarek told the Board of Commissioners on Friday. The commissioners accepted a report on those collections submitted by Talarek's office and county Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson's office. State law says county treasurer and prosecutors offices each get 2.5 percent of all delinquent real estate, personal, and mobile home taxes and assessments they collect each year. It was seen as an incentive "because counties weren't doing a good job collecting their delinquent taxes," Talarek said. That means the Treasurer's Office got just over $451,081 in 2024, and the Tax Unit of the Prosecutor's Office got just over $471,347 and anticipates collecting another $52,094 by the end of year, according to the board's agenda. Another 5 percent of the delinquent taxes collected goes to the county Land Bank, Talarek said. In other business, commissioners signed a three-year, $719,475 agreement with KnowledgeLake of St. Louis, Missouri, to provide records management for the county Records Center. Using artificial intelligence, or AI, KnowledgeLake will "design, create and maintain with the cloud system documents" for the county Clerk of Courts, Records Center, Finance Department and Clerk of the Board of Commissioners. County Information Technology Director Todd Sharkey said the software will enhance county record keeping for a system that is "a mess," with sometimes 25 years of records that still need scanned. Hiring a company to scan all the documents waiting to be scanned would cost an estimated $3 million, he told the board. Records Center Manager Marilyn Velez said the county stores 11,000 boxes of records, some dating back to 1824. The software will require less manual input and streamline searches for documents, Sharkey said. Using the AI software, the system will automatically recognize documents, know what kind they are, where they need to be filed and processed, and pull relevant data from invoices for county processes, Sharkey said. "I think this is one of those pieces of software out there that can transform an organization," he said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.