A Circuit Court judge last week signed a consent judgment that will impose a $16,000 lien on Sugar Loaf Resort for unpaid sewer bills, ending a case filed last year by sewage treatment plant operator Sugar Loaf Service Company against the nominal owner of the resort, Kate Wickstrom.

In January, Judge Thomas G. Power dismissed a claim that Wickstrom was in default on most of her sewer bill and owed the service company more than $500,000. However, the judge at the time did not rule on another claim in the same lawsuit that Wickstrom still owed some $16,000 in user fees for the months of March and April 2005. Wickstrom purchased the resort in March 2005.

The $16,000 Wickstrom still owes will be imposed as a lien against the property, according to a “consent judgement and order of priority of lien” that Power signed Feb. 24. The agreement was also signed by Wickstrom personally, an attorney for the service company, and an attorney representing Transcapital Bank that once held Wickstrom’s mortgage on the resort.

The judgment stipulates that any claims that a mortgage holder may have on Sugar Loaf Resort are subordinate to the $16,000 lien granted to the service company. Wickstrom’s original mortgage on the resort, believed to be around $5.7 million, had been held by a corporation called S.L. 2002, L.L.C., controlled by the wife of a former owner of the resort, convicted felon Remo Polselli.

The mortgage was subsequently assigned to Transcapital Bank in Florida. During a court hearing in January, however, an attorney for Transcapital noted that his client no longer held the mortgage, which had been assigned to a corporation called 4500 Investments, L.L.C.

That corporation, too, is headed by Polselli’s wife, Hanna Karcho-Polselli of downstate Bloomfield Hills. Karcho-Polselli subsequently turned the mortgage over to First Place Bank of downstate Southfield.

Although Wickstrom is still listed as the owner of the resort property on a deed, she has stated in court documents that she is out of money. Because property taxes have not been paid on the resort for several years, the property could be permanently forfeited to Leelanau County unless 2007 property taxes totaling an estimated $123,000 are paid by the end of this month.

Remo Polselli told the Enterprise last month that he expected his bank would pay off the 2007 property taxes on the resort to avoid permanent forfeiture of the property to Leelanau County.

Leelanau County treasurer Chelly Roush reported this week that she’d recently heard from a representative of 4500 Investment, L.L.C., inquiring about the delinquent tax bill.

Remo Polselli was the head of a corporation that purchased Sugar Loaf Resort in 1997. The resort has been closed for skiing since March 2000. In 2003, Polselli was convicted of tax evasion in connection with one of his downstate properties and served time in a federal prison. One of his downstate corporations is currently embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings. In addition, Polselli this week was to undergo a comprehensive IRS audit, according to a summons filed in federal court. Also, Polselli is currently facing a federal lawsuit from a former business partner in Florida.