Delinquent tax sale being planned for this year

Owners of 80 Jackson County properties, who are delinquent on their taxes, may be subject to a tax sale being planned for this year, it was reported.

Jackson County Treasurer Linda Gerhardt and the Jackson County Commissioners are in the preliminary stages of conducting a tax sale after it was reported that taxes had not been paid on 80 parcels for three or more years. The properties represent approximately $269,119 in delinquent taxes, Gerhardt reported. 

The Jackson County Commissioners have asked Jackson County Attorney Shawna Miller to write a resolution listing the properties and calling for a tax sale if the taxes on the properties are not paid in full prior to the sale. 

“It usually takes six months to prepare for a tax sale,” Gerhardt said. “I am hoping we can have it by the end of the year.” 

Prior to the tax sale, documents on the sale will be filed and presented to real estate property owners, lienholders and other lenders, it was reported. A public notice will then be published in The Holton Recorder listing the properties on which delinquent taxes are owed. 

Property owners who are delinquent on their taxes will then have the opportunity to file an “answer” or defense for the debt, and hearing dates will be set for those who file. 

Property owners must pay their all of their delinquent taxes before the start of the tax sale, as well as penalties and interest, publication costs, possible court costs and other fees. 

State regulations forbid property owners from bidding on their own pieces of property at the tax sale. Also, family members of the owners are not allowed to bid on the property at the tax sale. 

The last county tax sale was held October 2014 and included 12 properties in the county. Initially, a total of 38 tracts in Jackson County, representing approximately $102,000 in delinquent taxes, were set to be included on the tax sale but the delinquent taxes on several of those properties were paid in full prior to the sale. 

In 2011, a county tax sale was held that included 10 properties, it was reported. The county also held delinquent tax sales in January 2009 and in January 2005. Gerhardt said that, ideally, the county should hold a sale every two to three years.