The Emmaus Borough Council was presented a lengthy tax complaint at the borough meeting Oct. 20.

Mark Fischer, of North Second Street, told council "an error in a billing address leads to over $1,800 in penalties and lawyer fees and the process was proceeding to the loss of my $200,000 home."

Fischer said the property was originally owned by his father and when he passed away the property was willed to him and the title was transferred.

Fischer, who had been living in California, moved to Emmaus in 2011 where he filed a change of address form with the United States Postal Service which was good for one year.

He said all of his taxes in 2012 were forwarded to the correct address.

Fischer said the problem began when he received a certified notice of delinquent tax payment from Lehigh County in March of 2014.

He proceeded to pay those bills, which included penalty fees of almost $500.

In September, Fischer found he still did not have any bills for the school district taxes, property tax and the Emmaus Borough taxes. Fischer went to the Emmaus tax collector, Dennis Gouldy, only to find his billing address was still being shown as his California address, and his school tax bill, property tax and borough taxes were all past due. Two of the bills incurred an additional 10 percent penalty fee.

Fischer was also told his borough taxes from 2013 were delinquent and had been sent to the law firm Dimmich and Dinkelacker, Orefield, for collection.

According to Fischer, when he went to the Lehigh County office, the county said a change of address was not received from the borough.

He subsequently found a lien of $2,236.88 had been filed against his residence.

"Of that $2,236.88, $933 were the borough taxes and penalties, and the remaining $1,300 were for lawyer fees and interest in trying to find me in California," Fischer said.

"They have run up a bill of $1,300 searching for me, but could not afford me the courtesy of sending a letter or placing a phone call. They, however, did know how to place a lien on my house at that same address."

Fischer said he wants several things done about this, the first being "that the law firm be directed to attempt to contact the property owner at the property address as the county does."

Fischer wants the fees to be reversed and the lien to be immediately removed.

He also wants the 10 percent penalties for 2013 and 2014 to be rescinded, as well as the bill from the law firm to be resolved.

If the problem cannot be resolved, Fischer said he will be forced to pay the bill to protect his property and then "proceed to recover the costs by other means."

When Fischer was done explaining his side of the story, council proceeded to ask questions including if Fischer's request concerning penalties can be met.

Borough Solicitor Jeffery Dimmich proceeded to give his take on the matter.

Dimmich said everything has been done in accordance to the state statutes. Before a lien is even filed, a certified letter is sent to the property owner followed by a second letter if there is no response. Only then will a lien be filed.

"We have followed the exact mandates of the state statue," Dimmich said.

"Now we get the information from the tax collector, but we have no control over what the tax collector does with sending bills out and communicating. All we get is a delinquency list that says this property is delinquent."

Dimmich said while council does have the right to waive the interest fees, he suggests doing it with great care because once the door is open to one person who has not followed the law, the door is opened to many others. Dimmich said he would speak to Fischer about the attorney fees.

"In a practical matter, the mistake here is not the borough's. It's not the lawyer. It's the property owner's," Dimmich said.

"The truth is the borough is the party that is wronged as they did not get their money for an extended period of time."

"This is a case where the billing address and property address are different. That's the whole core of the problem," Fischer countered.

"The billing address did not get corrected. It didn't appear to do it through that notification, and it didn't appear to do it through notifications to the United States Postal Service."

Dimmich said he would look into the matter, but he can virtually guarantee "that it was done right by the letter of the law, right down the line."

Council decided to pass the issue to the budget and finance committee.