Midland Park March 20, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 The Midland Park Council and the Han Maum Reformed Church have reached an eleventh-hour property tax payment agreement that will prevent the church from being considered in default. Ordinarily, a house of worship is exempt from paying property taxes, but the congregation failed to file a statement of exemption with the municipality as required by state law when it purchased the property at 218 Irving Street in April of 2009. The church, which now owes the borough a total of $36,000, has agreed to pay $18,000 by March 31. If payment is not received, the property will be listed for tax sale at the end of April. If the church makes the initial payment, the $18,000 balance would have to be paid by the end of 2013, or when the property is sold, whichever occurs first. The site is now listed for sale. According to borough officials, Han Maum failed to respond to repeated efforts by the borough’s tax assessor to Church, borough reach last-minute agreement remedy the situation, so the property was assessed, placed on the 2010 tax rolls as required by law, and subsequently listed for a tax sale in 2011. On April 28 of that year, the borough and the church agreed that the church would pay the municipality a total of $50,000 in back taxes without interest. Of that total, $10,000 was due within five days of the approval of the council’s 2011 resolution, $20,000 was to have been paid by May 1, 2012, and the balance would have been due on May 1, 2013. This last-minute settlement kept the property off the 2011 tax sale, with the church agreeing to pay the full amount of taxes due. The borough waived $17,323 in penalties and interest charges, which would be reinstated if the church failed to make the payments on time. Church officials at the time said that their pastor, who had since died, had been in charge of handling business. Recreation department sets Easter Egg Hunt Midland Park Recreation will sponsor an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 23. The hunt will be held at Veterans Field located behind the high school at 250 Prospect Street. Children will be grouped into age categories, and will hunt for eggs at different times. Two- and three-year-olds will be hunting at 1 p.m. Four- and five-year-olds will follow at 1:30 p.m., and six- and seven-year-olds will participate at 2 p.m. Attendees should bring a basket to collect eggs. Parents are encouraged to bring cameras to take a picture with the Easter Bunny. The rain date for this event will be March 30. Call (201) 652-2747 for cancellation information. In 2012, taxes on the building were still outstanding. Under the terms of an updated agreement, the church was to have paid $1,000 a month through Oct. 31, 2012 and $500 a month thereafter until the due amount was paid in full. That agreement also provided that, in the event any payment was not received by the tenth day after the due date, the property would be relisted for tax sale for the balance of the taxes due, plus the original interest amount. The Han Maum Reformed Church is a South Korean congregation from Paramus. The congregation purchased the church building, which had previously been tax-exempt, from New Life Ministries, a contemporary worship church that moved to the borough in 2000. New Life Ministries shared the building with the Eastern Christian Schools’ pre-school program before purchasing it two years later. Irving Park Christian Reformed Church donated the property to Eastern Christian when it disbanded in 2000 due to dwindling membership after 45 years.