Southern Park Mall owner's third tax payment rejected for insufficient funds, still owes hundreds of thousands

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While it appeared Southern Park Mall owner Kohan Retail Investment had caught up on their back taxes and even pulled ahead, it turns out that's not the case.

In fact, none of Kohan's three attempts to pay their taxes have gone through, meaning the group is not only more than $460,000 behind in late taxes and fees, but have another payment for the second half due in August. 

So to recap, Kohan Retail Investment has made three attempts to pay their taxes. The first was rejected due to insufficient funds. The second, Kohan blamed on a bank error. Now, a third attempt has also been rejected due to insufficient funds. 

Last week, 21 News reported that Kohan had paid the second half of it's property taxes a month before an August due date, based on information on the county auditor's web site.

At the time, Kohan CEO Mike Kohan told 21 News exclusively that he hoped the early payment would help ease minds.

On Thursday, though, that second half payment was no longer showing up as being paid, only the first half.

Mahoning county treasurer Dan Yemma explained the confusion stems from not one but two payments Kohan submitted for a portion of the overdue taxes for the first half.

21 News has previously reported that when Kohan paid more than $460,000 to the county in June, three months late, the payment did not go through due to "insufficient funds."

The following week, Kohan made the payment again, which has been reflected on the county's site as current since then. That payment only covers the two largest of the mall's seven parcels, meaning Kohan is still past due on the remaining parcels.

Last week, the auditor's site reflected that Kohan had made a third payment, covering most of the second half taxes that are due August 1, but as of Thursday morning, that payment has been removed from the auditor's site.

Yemma explained that Kohan's second attempt to pay their first half bill was also rejected, this time Kohan blaming the problem on a "bank error."

As a result, the third attempt to pay was originally credited to the second half taxes, but has now been applied to the overdue first half bill.

But now, with that payment rejected also, Kohan has never paid a dime to the county.

Yemma said he's looking into what his options are, which he said could include requiring a certified check for any payments from Kohan due to their pattern of rejected payments. 

That means Kohan still owes delinquent taxes and penalties on five of the mall's seven parcels, as well as nearly half a million dollars for the second half of the year due August 1.

21 News has reached out to Mike Kohan to clarify why the payment bounced back a second time, as well as why he did not disclose that sooner.