County sells properties claimed for taxes
By Donna Comella

Tuesday morning, the Wayne County Board of Supervisors accepted 40 bids from a real property auction sale held in May. But one property owner pleaded with the board not to take his Wolcott property.

Richard Nixon told supervisors that he had fallen on hard times and that he would pay the back taxes immediately if the board would not finalize the sale of his house and land. Arcadia Supervisor Joe DeSanto said that it was his understanding that Nixon did not live on the property, but Nixon assured him that he did.

County Attorney Dan Wyner then began reading a list of properties owned by Nixon and how often he had not paid his taxes. According to Wyner, Nixon owed the county a total of $59,949.32 in back taxes. The Board called for a brief recess and some of the supervisors gathered around a conference table with Wyner. Nixon was close at hand.

At one point, you could hear Wyner's voice get louder from across the courthouse room, saying, '...I have to pay my taxes, why doesn't he?'

When the board got back to the floor, a motion to amend the resolution and omit Nixon's property from the sale was defeated. Voting against Nixon's reprieve were the following supervisors: DeSanto, Leo Jenkins (Galen), Bill Hammond (Macedon), Jody Bender (Marion), Dave Lyon (Palmyra), James Hoffman (Williamson), and Marv Decker (Wolcott). With a weighted vote based on their town's population, the seven supervisors carried a 2334 majority over the supervisors who were willing to let Nixon keep his property: Dave Spickerman (Butler), Charles Frederick (Huron), Jim Fabino (Lyons), Carm Pascarella (Rose), Don Colvin (Savannah), Donna Chittenden (Sodus) and Frank Guelli (Walworth).

Joseph Molino (Ontario) was absent. His 439 votes would not have changed the outcome.

Supervisors then voted to accept the auction bids and finalize the sale of the properties. The County netted $464,950 for the sale of the properties. Nixon's property sold for $137,000.

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