Property taxes, almost all of us pay for them in one way or another.
Whether we own or rent homes, businesses, or land.
Local governments like cities, schools, and even airports rely on those tax dollars to operate.
Receiving tax money from the tax collector several times a year.
You pay your share but what happens when those who owe huge amounts don't? TV 6 investigates.
Rock Island County auctioned off over three million dollars in unpaid taxes in December.
The auction takes every tax payment the County is owed, and sells it to a tax buyer.
Who pays the county and bids on an interest rate for their payment.
That allows the County tax authorities to finally collect taxes that were unpaid and undelivered to the nearly two dozen government bodies that rely on those payments.
Unpaid amounts ranged from as little as 30 bucks to tens of thousands of dollars for those property owners at the top of the list.
Local business landlord Financial District Properties owes the most tax money to the county.
At least 170-thousand dollars has not been paid on three different properties. The largest being the former Kone building. It owes over 160-thousand dollars in taxes on that building alone.
AMCAD Digital Conversion rents space on the Rock Island Arsenal.
Federal records show it has earned thousand of dollars in contracts with the Army to help it with records management. It owes at least 115-thousand dollars to Rock Island County.
Developer Rodney Blackwell owes Rock Island County at least 103-thousand dollars. His biggest late bill comes from the American Bank and Trust building in downtown Rock Island. Blackwell helped finance the new Kone building.
Midwest Methane comes in fourth. It owes Rock Island County at least 83-thousand dollars. It acquired the Taylor Ridge landfill back in 2008 by purchasing the back taxes then.
Allied Investment Group owes at least 73-thousand dollars on four properties.
Rock Island Industrial Partners owns and manages lots of older buildings. It hasn't paid taxes on ten of its properties. It owes the county at least 69-thousand thousand dollars. One of the company's partners says he's been sick and will pay the taxes by the end of February.
The owner of the former Honeywell plant owes back taxes on eight properties in the county.
Thomson Reuters owes the tax collector at least 54-thousand dollars.
River Eagle Investments owes 50-thousand dollars in back taxes on the former Case plant property the group purchased two years ago.
These top eight property owners represent 23 percent of the total unpaid property taxes in Rock Island County.
