German Township resident Bertran Skelton has refused to pay curbside recycling charges for several years in St. Joseph County because he doesn't use the service. Staff photo by Michael Caterina
SOUTH BEND — German Township resident Bertran Skelton has refused to pay recycling charges for several years because he doesn’t use the service. But he’s now worried that he could lose his home because of it.
That is because the St. Joseph County Solid Waste Management District, which runs the curbside recycling program, put the charge on county property tax bills for the first time this year. Residents used to be billed differently, and the charge was put on tax bills to reduce mailing expenses.
If affected taxpayers don’t pay the charge — now considered a “special assessment” under state law — their homes would eventually be sold at a tax sale with other delinquent properties, County Treasurer Mike Kruk said.
That was alarming news for Skelton, who owes about $300 in recycling charges that have snowballed over the years.
“I doubt I’ll pay it. I’ll become a homeless bum before I do,” said the 68-year-old disabled veteran, who has been summoned to court multiple times because of the issue.
Skelton, who moved into his Lilac Road home in 1972, gets paid for his recyclables by giving them to a scrap metal company in Buchanan. Because he has never used the curbside service, he doesn’t think he should be forced to pay for it.
“I’m retired and on Social Security, and yet they want to take my house for a service I don’t use? I see a real constitutional problem with that,” he said.
When delinquent special assessments exceed $25, taxpayers are given roughly a year under state law to pay the debt. If it isn’t paid, the county treasurer is responsible for putting properties in a tax sale.
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