The clock is ticking on 2015 property tax payments in Berrien County, with a deadline of the close of business today to either pay those in full or get into a payment plan to avoid being foreclosed. The Orchards Mall in Benton Township owes $275,000 in taxes for that year, and if that money isn’t paid in full by the end of the day, County Treasurer Bret Witkowski says he’ll foreclose. Witkowski says that property is not being offered the chance to get into a payment plan, but everyone else IS. The mall paid its 2014 property taxes last year at the deadline to stave off being foreclosed. Witkowski says another property that’s been in the news of late is also facing foreclosure, and that’s a home at the corner of Niles Avenue and Hoyt in St. Joseph with a tarp on the roof. The owner of the home and the city of St. Joseph have been fighting in court over repairs that haven’t been made, with the city trying to get permission to knock the house down.
