Foreclosure special counsel reports three sales, about $855,000 from May auction; board readies December sale

Dylan, the town's foreclosure special counsel, updated the Greenburgh Town Board at its July 14 work session that a May auction listed nine parcels (one later pulled), three of which closed and produced roughly $855,000 in bids.

"So out of the 3 that closed, we had a total fee of about 855,000," Dylan said, and added the office will work with the tax collector to calculate lien amounts and file a surplus report with the court within the next week or two. He said the surplus must be returned consistent with a recent Supreme Court ruling that requires returns above taxes and statutory fees to prior owners.

Dylan said redemption notices required under Article 11 of the Real Property Tax Law were mailed and that the 45-day redemption period has run for those parcels. He told the board the town is scheduled with Absolute Auction for a December sale that will include six parcels that did not sell in May and likely properties from 2014 and 2015 once title work is complete.

Board members pressed for clarity on what portion of the $855,000 the town will retain after surplus distributions. "Not yet," Dylan replied when asked for a retained-amount estimate; he said he will confer with Benita in the tax office to prepare exact lien figures for the town and the court.

Counsel described next steps for the backlog: staff will obtain title reports, prepare lien lists, serve petitions and notices of foreclosure and then rely on the court referee and public-notice requirements (including notices in two newspapers). He recommended keeping meticulous records—affidavits of service, mailings and scanned files—to reduce challenges to titles going forward.

Board members discussed options to accelerate collections, including consolidating filings through 2024 and running a larger, consolidated set of proceedings rather than year-by-year. Dylan said that approach would increase up-front work and costs—title reports run about $250 each—but could move hundreds of parcels into the process more quickly.

The chair urged an aggressive approach to maximize recoveries ahead of budget planning and requested a projection of likely receipts by the end of October to inform the 2027 budget.

Next steps: Dylan will calculate final lien and surplus figures with the tax collector, file the surplus report with the court referee within one to two weeks, and proceed with title work and filings for the December auction schedule.