By LEONARD GRAY-Staff Reporter

HAHNVILLE – Seven bidders appeared for the sale, but only two jumped at the opportunity to own their own country club, complete with clubhouse, pool, tennis court and 18-hole golf course on 160 acres.

On Wednesday, Ormond Country Club in Destrehan came under the gavel of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office gavel. At the end, Future Trends LLC and Cypress Lands LLC, both of Metairie, were the successful bidder over Norco attorney Gregory Miller.

Bidding started at 100 percent and quickly slipped down to 1 percent, where Miller declined to continue, though he could have gone to fractions of a percent.

The real estate development firms, represented at the sale by Joan Rogers, agreed to obtain a 1 percent undivided interest in the facility for the delinquent tax amount due, $12,450, which includes $11,238.91 in taxes, plus interest and fees.

Unlike the conventional auction process, where prices hike up and up, a tax sale takes the form of percentages coming down, starting at 100 percent, assistant deputy tax collector Claudette Magee explained.

Future Trends and Cypress Land’s payment will now stay in an escrow account for three years, unless the club organization comes up with reimbursement to the successful bidder to reclaim its property.

As it stands, Ormond will have to reimburse the development firms the $12,470.72, plus a flat 5 percent and 1 percent interest per month from the date of sale until redemption, Magee said.

Ormond Country Club, which has paid its property taxes year after year since it was incorporated in 1977, did not pay its 2002 taxes, saying it did not have the money to do so.

Ormond General Manager James F. Deal, who took over the position in May, said the country club was established from the beginning as a non-profit and doesn’t know why it ever paid property taxes.

At the same time, Deal added, Ormond is keeping an eye on Metairie Country Club’s case. That club was presented with a property tax bill in 2000 for the first time. They paid it under protest, but filed suit and won in district court in September 2002, asserting the club was a fraternal, non-profit organization which pays no dividends to stockholders.

Jefferson Parish appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard the case Oct. 1 and that decision is still pending.

Miller said Ormond should have filed the proper state and federal paperwork as a non-profit organization, then paid the taxes under protest rather than avoid the public embarrassment of the tax sale, and fight the matter in court.

Non-payment of the taxes within three years would lead to the development companies filing a partitioning to claim title to the 1 percent of the 160-acre property.

“They’re obviously going to get the club back,” Miller said of Ormond’s management.

Other local clubs in St. Charles Parish pay property taxes, including Willowdale Country Club in Luling, which paid $7,991.83 in 2002. It was incorporated in 1966 and has continued to pay its tax bills. Other private clubs, including Ellington Swim Club in Luling, Mimosa Swim & Racquet Club in Luling, Sun Villa Country Club in Norco and Hill Heights Country Club in Destrehan are also all property taxpayers, according to St. Charles Parish Assessor Clyde “Rock” Gisclair.