Published December 30, 2008 10:24 pm - SUMMIT TOWNSHIP — Summit Township has accepted the lone bid for the sale of a $152,000 debt the township is owed by Conneaut Lake Park.
One bid received in Summit’s ‘debt sale’ vs. Conneaut Lake Park
By Keith Gushard
12/31/08
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SUMMIT TOWNSHIP — Summit Township has accepted the lone bid for the sale of a $152,000 debt the township is owed by Conneaut Lake Park.
A bid of $200,000 was submitted Tues-day afternoon at the township’s year-end meeting by Peter Acker, a Mercer County attorney from Hermitage.
Acker declined any comment about whom he was representing.
The bid was through First Capital Finance Inc. with the offer signed by David Tyburski, its assistant secretary, though there was no other information on the bid including whether First Capital was the financing agent for the bidder or the bidder itself.
A certified check through First National Bank of Pennsylvania for 10 percent of the bid — $20,000 — was submitted as required by the township. The balance is to be paid by Jan. 30, 2009, according to the township’s bidding procedure.
Final documents closing the sale will be drafted before the deadline, said Bill Walker, the township’s attorney.
Earlier this month, Summit advertised for bids to sell a judgment the township has against Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park for unpaid amusement taxes from 1996 and 1997 when the park was owned by Property on the Lake Inc. The judgment was awarded to the township by Crawford County Court of Common Pleas in 1998.
Property on the Lake Inc. deeded the amusement park over to Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, a public trust, in 1998. Trustees also inherited the park’s myriad financial problems with the transfer.
The park owes $99,062.72 in back amusement taxes from 1996 and 1997 plus $52,998.17 in interest as of Aug. 15 this year — for a total of $152,060.90, with interest continuing to accrue at 6 percent per year.
The as-yet-unnamed winning bidder could end up forcing a sale of park assets — including land — to satisfy the judgment by filing for a writ of execution with county court, according to Bob Bailey, an attorney with Shafer Law Firm, who handles sheriff’s sales for the county.
Several board members of Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, which currently owns the park, attended Tuesday’s bid opening, including Jack Moyers, chairman of the trustees.
“I’m a little surprised,” Moyers said following the meeting. Moyers said he had not heard of Acker or had any idea whom Acker may represent.
Moyers said the trustees plan to get a copy of the bid and turn it over to their attorney, John Swick, for review.
“We’ll seek out legal advice and move on from there,” Moyers said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, supervisors also gave final approval to a $443,300 general fund budget that keeps the township’s tax rate at 5 mills.