Opinion
Argued November 3, 1978
December 8, 1978.
Tax sale — Approval — Discretion of court — Interest of taxing authorities — Act of 1947, July 5, P.L. 1258.
1. In approving a tax sale of property under the Act of 1947, July 5, P.L. 1258, the court after considering relevant facts may in its discretion approve the offer which appears to be in the best interest of all taxing authorities having claims against the land. [135]
Argued November 3, 1978, before Judges MENCER, DiSALLE and CRAIG, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 541 C.D. 1978, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in case of In Re: Petition of the City of Pittsburgh for the Sale of City Owned Property Located in the 5th Ward, No. GD 77-25483.
Petition in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County for approval of property sale. Sale approved. BARRY, J. Disappointed bidder appealed to Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Affirmed.
Morton B. DeBroff, for appellant.
Thomas R. Solomich, with him Rothman, Gordon, Foreman and Groudine, P.A., for appellee.
This is an appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County approving the tax sale at which certain property located in the Fifth Ward of the City of Pittsburgh was sold to Harold Garfinkel, the highest bidder at the sale. We affirm.
Section 14 of the Act of July 5, 1947, P.L. 1258, as amended, 53 P. S. § 26114, provides that where two or more persons have made offers for land which a Pennsylvania city or school district has agreed to sell, the court may approve the offer "as in its discretion appears to be in the interest of all taxing authorities having claims against the land." Joseph Rasimczyk (Appellant), the disappointed bidder in this case, had been leasing the property in question from the City and using it as the headquarters of his used-car business. He argues that in awarding the property to Garfinkel, the lower court abused its discretion because Appellant expended $3,000.00 to improve the subject property and because, while Appellant planned to continue using the property in connection with his business, Garfinkel planned to convert the premises into a parking lot. We disagree.
On the contrary, we find that the lower court gave proper consideration to all relevant facts and did not abuse its discretion in finding Garfinkel's higher offer to be "in the interest of" the taxing authorities.
We affirm.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 8th day of December, 1978, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, approving the sale of City-owned property located in the 5th Ward of Pittsburgh to Harold Garfinkel, is hereby affirmed.