WURTSBORO – Former mayor of Wurtsboro Bob Whitehead recently received notice from Sullivan County that his home was going to be foreclosed upon for non-payment of back taxes. The problem is he doesn't own it anymore. Whitehead sold the property to Mr. And Mrs. Dennis Hicks this past August.

As it turns out, the Hicks family also received such a notice. The letter demanded that back taxes — for a $300 bill that occurred nine years ago — be paid, or their newly-purchased house would be foreclosed upon.

This was the first either party had heard about a delinquent tax being owed on the property, which is located on Route 209 in Wurtsboro. For the Hicks family, the delinquency was even missed during the title search. They had no idea they might owe any money.

This kerfuffle is the result of a well-intended effort on the part of Wurtsboro officials to collect back taxes owed to the village. Often, small municipalities such as Wurtsboro find they are poorly equipped for tax enforcement. Yet, the taxes must be paid, or those in good standing end up footing the bill for those who aren't, an untenable situation. In this case the village called upon Sullivan County to help collect these taxes.

Ira Cohen, the county treasurer, said that his office handled the matter the only way possible: by informing residents that their property was at risk unless the matter was settled. Cohen says that the county has no choice but to enforce the statewide mandate that taxes be collected annually.

But Whitehead thinks the matter might have been handled differently.

"I always pay my taxes," Whitehead said.

"[The Hicks's house] closed on August 1," Whitehead said, "at which time all the debts were satisfied. I ensured all the taxes were paid."

It is Whitehead's contention that previous village administrations, either through neglect or malfeasance, were in the past less than diligent when it came to collecting some village taxes, and that this has resulted in a situation in which the village is legally owed money but the residents in question have no idea that there is a problem.

Village officials were apologetic, however.

"We had no idea what was in that letter," said Mickey Maher, mayor of Wurtsboro.

Mayor Maher and the other trustees said that they wished they had been able to review the letter before the county sent it out, and that the strident phraseology was not meant to cause intentional distress to the residents in question.

It appears that, what at first might have been construed as callousness, was simply a situation in which there was poor communication. Village officials said that they would make every effort to ensure that this type of misunderstanding does not take place in the future.

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