(AZCentral)
Disabled military veteran Jim Boerner bought his buttercup-yellow mobile home in Mesa two years ago, hoping to live affordably into his old age.
Boerner, 49, is unable to work because of spinal and brain injuries he suffered during a training exercise in 1991 at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, he said.
On his limited income, Boerner keeps a cat named Samantha, fixes guitars found at garage sales and brings flowers to widowed neighbors on Christmas, Easter and Mother's Day.
To save money, Boerner says he applied to a Maricopa County program that reduces property taxes for people with disabilities and limited incomes. He thought he had been accepted.
So when a stranger knocked on his door last month claiming to have bought his home at auction because of $236 in late taxes, Boerner said he was floored.
"I said, 'What are you talking about? ... This has got to be wrong,' " Boerner recalled. "Had I known I was in peril of losing my home, I would have paid it in full." Read more