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State law change complicates city’s Abutters‑Lots plan for small tax‑possession parcels
Summary
City attorneys and the treasurer told the council that a 2024 state law revision (effective Nov. 1) changes how municipalities must market and sell tax‑possession parcels, requiring broker marketing and minimum sale thresholds that make the city’s low‑price abutters‑lots program unworkable without an ordinance change.
City legal counsel and the treasurer briefed the council on the Abutters‑Lots program and the impact of a change in state law that took effect in late 2024. The Abutters‑Lots program had been designed to let owners adjacent to small, unbuildable city parcels buy them back at nominal fixed fees (for example $250–$1,000 depending on lot size); those sales are intended to remove nuisance lots from city rolls and to return small parcels to neighboring property owners.
Treasurer and special counsel explained the legal change: Chapter 64 (as enacted in the 2024 session) requires tax‑possession parcels to be marketed through a real‑estate broker for one year and, after broker…
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