We have had it confirmed that the priest at St. Mary Magdalene church in Willowick stated to the congregation at mass that their old convent and rectory will be given to the Land Bank of Lake County.

The plan is for the buildings to be demolished, and the Land Bank to sell the property to a developer who will build at least two homes on the land.

We will definitely confront the Land Bank and the Lake County Commissioners on this issue to get the specific agreements between the two entities.  We do not believe that the taxpayers should be bailing out the church, they created the problem, and should be responsible for fixing it.  If it is so potentially profitable, why would the church not secure the profits.  When they reap $50 million annually in revenues for Catholic Charities, they do not need more help from the Lake County taxpayers.

Here is the property’s  file from the Lake County Auditor’s website:
http://www.lake.iviewauditor.com/Data.aspx?ParcelID=28A044E000130

The property class is listed as “Exempt”, therefore no real estate taxes were collected.  It has an appraised value of $411,930 for the land, and $1,977,270 for the building…totaling $2,389,200.

Stay tuned as we “peel back this onion”……

File this under “Chutzpah”….

Categories: Lake