ASHLAND – The Ashland County Prosecutor’s Office has filed a complaint of foreclosure on several properties owned by Pump House Ministries.
According to Ashland County Treasurer Angie McQuillen, Pump House Ministries owes $353,191.11 in delinquent taxes on 16 parcels of land and $87,693.93 on another parcel of land at 425 Orange St., which is listed as being owned by JL & MM Real Estate.
“The purpose of (the foreclosure) is to facilitate the payment of taxes,” said Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell.
Bruce Wilkinson is the owner of Pump House Ministries and also is president of JL & MM Real Estate. JL & MM Real Estate donated property to the Pump House in 2003 but did not have the title transferred to the Pump House.
The foreclosure complaint, filed Sept. 15, only includes 10 of the 16 parcels. Tunnell said the properties south of Fourth Street, excluding the thrift store, are covered in the foreclosure. The prosecutor said the other properties were not included because they will allow the Pump House to continue making income and potentially pay the taxes with that income.
The total delinquency on the 10 parcels included in the foreclosure is $177,102.
The foreclosure filing was made just two days after the bodies of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith were discovered at 363 Covert Court, a home owned by Pump House Ministries. That home, along with its neighbor, 365 Covert Court, are included in the foreclosure complaint. However, Tunnell said the timing is unfortunate and purely coincidental.
“We have to request title work in order to file a complaint for foreclosure and we initiated that process in May,” Tunnell said.
That title work was turned in by Critchfield, Critchfield & Johnson over the course of several months, and the final piece was turned in the week the complaint was filed.
Besides the two houses on Covert Court, the parcels include seven vacant lots and a warehouse structure located behind the Fourth Street Laundromat.
McQuillen said the last year taxes were paid on any of the properties was 2008. The county had not previously moved forward with foreclosure against the Pump House because they had repeatedly filed for tax-exempt status as a religious organization.
Most recently, the Pump House lost an appeal for tax-exempt status in 2014.
Normally, McQuillen said, when someone owes property taxes, they are sent delinquent notices. After one year, the county advertises the delinquency in the newspaper. After two years, the case is turned over to the prosecutor.
McQuillen said entities like the Pump House who have filed for tax-exempt status are marked with an asterisk and it is then up to the prosecutor to decide whether or not to proceed with foreclosure.
Wilkinson said he has been advised by his attorney to not comment on the foreclosure, however he did confirm that plans are moving forward to develop the land north of Fourth Street and east of Orange Street as a Best Western hotel.
He said plans are still in the financing stage for the location, which is still occupied by burned warehouse structures which were torched in a 2013 arson. Wilkinson announced plans for the hotel and other businesses in May and said at the time he was working with BGW Stewardship, an architectural company out of Ogden, Utah, that specializes in projects for religious organizations.
“He had specifically mentioned that if that plan comes to fruition it included a plan to pay the taxes,” Tunnell said of the Best Western project.
Tunnell said the county believes that the properties included in the foreclosure complaint are “marketable,” meaning that if they are foreclosed on, enough money would be made from the Sheriff’s Sale to cover the back taxes owed on them.
“Even if no one does anything with it, they at least will begin paying taxes on a regular basis and that’s a win for the county and really everyone in Ashland,” Tunnell said. “We’ve got levies on the ballot and there’s all this money out there on the table.”
Tunnell said that if some of the properties went to Sheriff’s Sale, the cost of clearing the land an making them marketable could make it difficult to sell at a price that would satisfy the taxes owed.
No date has been set yet for the foreclosure process to start in court. Wilkinson has an allotted time to respond to the complaint from the time he is served.
According to the Ashland County Auditor’s website, $38,806.64 is owed on the parcel that contains 363 and 365 Covert Court, the most owed on any of the 10 parcels included in the foreclosure. Taxes totaling $108,961.81 are owed on the main parcel at 400 Orange St., which houses the ministry’s offices and catering space, and is not included in the foreclosure.
