Process is important. But sometimes, common sense is much more important.

Recently, Chautauqua County legislators had to decide if they would follow the county’s foreclosure process or break with the process to allow someone to pay the taxes of an elderly man in Ellery who didn’t know his home was about to be foreclosed upon. A group had stepped up to pay the $2,600 in back taxes the man owed, but the foreclosure process had to be circumvented to allow the taxes to be paid and the man to stay in his home.

Jim Caflisch, county real property tax director, opposed the move because he felt it could open the door to more and more such last-minute alterations to the process. Caflisch added that owners and mortgage holders were handed notices before properties went to auction. Caflisch placed concerns that the committee would open the door for other people to claim hardships.

“It will have a devastating effect on our ability to foreclose in a straight-forward way,” he said.

Caflisch is not in the wrong here for wanting to protect the integrity of the foreclosure process. But we agree with Robert Scudder, R-Fredonia and Administrative Services Committee chairman, who said there should be some sort of committee review of cases involving at-risk senior citizens who are in the midst of foreclosure. Scudder’s suggestion would help senior citizens while helping Caflisch maintain the integrity of the foreclosure process.

The county should figure out a way to make Scudder’s suggestion before next year’s property tax auction.