More than 5,000 D.C. property owners, including a powerful Washington lobbyist, a developer and a nightclub owner, failed to pay their 2008 real estate taxes and now face the prospect of losing their holdings to hungry bidders during the city’s annual tax auction.
The number of liens listed in the Office of Tax and Revenue’s annual pretax sale advertisement soared from roughly 3,400 last year to more than 5,200 this year, an increase of about 65 percent. The total amount of taxes owed tops $27.25 million.
It is a sign, observers say, of a recessionary economy that has hit average homeowners and wealthy landowners alike. Many of the back bills total only a few hundred dollars. Others are well over $100,000.
“We’re not different from anywhere else in the country,” said Richie McKeithen, director of OTR’s Real Property Tax Administration.
“We’re suffering economywise, and the economy has a lot to do with people being able to pay bills.”
Among OTR’s list of delinquent taxpayers, published last week, is lobbyist Anthony Podesta, who owes $696.32 on his 6,600-square-foot home on Belmont Road in Kalorama. In tax year 2008, according to city records, Podesta paid $33,935 of his $34,483 bill.
Podesta, chairman of the Podesta Group, said Friday he received no notice from the city.
“We don’t even pay the taxes,” he said. “They’re paid by the bank. If they sell my house, I’m going to sue the bank.”
Developer Christopher Donatelli and his wife, Karen, according to OTR, owe $13,569 on their Gates Road home — scene of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s 38th birthday bash. Donatelli said Friday he “definitely paid that,” but the city’s database has yet to show the payment.
Also on the list are Love nightclub at 1350 Okie St. NE and Okie Truck Service at 1356 Okie — both owned by entertainment guru Marc Barnes. The two properties combined have back tax bills totaling $48,064.
“Ours isn’t going to be on there,” Barnes said Friday. “We’re paying the tax.”
The Sept. 9 to11 tax sale brings together bankers, investors and opportunists who hope to snag real estate on the cheap. But in the vast majority of cases, even if the property is auctioned, the owner pays the tax bill long before the deed changes hands.
Either way, the D.C. government recoups its real estate taxes, a critical revenue source comprising one-third of the city’s general fund.
