A delinquent property tax sale on Thursday morning added another $130,000 or so to the county’s budget and brought 56 properties back onto the active tax rolls.
More than 100 potential buyers attended Thursday’s sale at the courthouse. Properties were sold for as little as $100 and as much as $20,000. Most were vacant lots; some had dilapidated houses and some were located in a flood plain.
The goal of the tax sale is to either bring taxes current, or sell the property to someone who will pay property taxes.
The county started with a list of 214 tracts but most owners were able to pay the past-due taxes and avoided the sale, County Counselor Bob Johnson said.
In the end, the county collected a total of more than $800,000 in property taxes through the process.
“The county is not in the business of selling people’s property,” Johnson said. “But if you don’t pay your taxes in three years and don’t redeem the past-due amount after five warning letters, the county’s only option is to sell it.”
Johnson plans to have a delinquent tax sale every two or three years to ensure taxes are paid promptly. The last sale was in 2016; this one was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnson said he plans to begin the process for the next sale in February 2024. He will start by sending letters to notify property owners who are more than three years delinquent.
Owners had until the day of the sale to pay the past-due taxes.
“By the time it gets down to the sale, anyone who was going to redeem their taxes already has done so,” Johnson said.
Sheriff Bryan Murphy conducted the sale.
