BOWLING GREEN - The Wood County Clerk of Courts' office hit a milestone last year, logging slightly more than 1,000 civil complaints - half of which were foreclosures.
With 2 1/2 months remaining in the year, more than 1,000 civil cases have been filed, including 437 foreclosures. The number of properties in the county that have been sold at sheriff's sale so far this year already has surpassed the total sold in 2007.
"It's really sad," Clerk of Courts Becky Bhaer said. "The one thing about it is, I'm certainly not going to be laying people off during a bad economy because that's when our work really explodes."
In the last 10 years, the number of foreclosures filed in Wood County has increased from 96 in 1998 to 267 in 2002 and a record 514 in 2007. Complaints for money - unpaid credit card balances, personal loans, and retail installment plans - also have been on the rise.
"Foreclosures are through the roof. Anything to do with financial things are really through the roof," Ms. Bhaer said.
Common Pleas Judge Robert Pollex said the increased filings have not impacted the courts so much because they tend to involve paperwork rather than hearings before the court, but the clerk's and sheriff's offices are feeling the added workload.Deputy Phyllis Haas, who handles the paperwork for the sheriff's sales, said so far this year, the sheriff's office has sold 271 properties, compared to 216 at this time last year and 263 for all of 2007.
"It's scary. Every year it's higher, and there's no light at the end of the tunnel," said Wood Coun-ty Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn, who conducts the auctions.
"When I first took office I was doing them once or twice a month with one or two sales," he recalled. "Now we do it virtually every Thursday, and we are averaging between five and 15 sales per week."
While not every foreclosure complaint ends up going to sheriff's sale, Sheriff Wasylyshyn said his deputies still have to serve the foreclosure papers, accompany appraisers to the properties, and complete the paperwork leading up to the sale. At the last minute, some are canceled.
"Hopefully it means the homeowner worked something out with their lender, but there's a lot of work involved with the sales," he said.
"It's not just me auctioning them off on Thursday mornings."
Both Ms. Bhaer and the sheriff said their offices have continued to do the work without increasing staff.
"We have been plugging away, and through our technology and through a little bit of working overtime, we have been able to keep up," Ms. Bhaer said.
"In this office, we see a lot of sadness," she added, "and this is one example of the sadness we see: people losing their homes."
Contact Jennifer Feehan at:
jfeehan@theblade.com
or 419-353-5972.
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