USA: $1.63 Unpaid Bill May Cost Elderly Couple Their House

NEW ORLEANS (USA TODAY), July 16, 2007: Kermit and Dolores Atwood could lose their home because they didn't pay a $1.63 tax bill that was sent to the wrong address in 1996. The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune says the Atwoods didn't pay the property taxes on their four-bedroom house and it was sold at a 1997 tax sale for $1.63 plus $125.10 worth of interest and fees. "We found out about it seven days after the three-year redemption period ended," Dolores tells the paper. The local assessor voided the tax sale, but the buyer filed a lien and sued to get the property. Because of the lien, they can't sell the house, which was damaged during Hurricane Katrina. Dolores, 69, now lives in a FEMA trailer on the property. Kermit, 71, is on a respirator and lives with relatives. "I don't know how much more I can endure," Dolores says. "I wake up in the middle of the night, and it's on my mind. All this should have never happened." © Copyright 2007 USA TODAY