At the July 30 meeting, the Summer County law director explained how proceeds and attorney fees from delinquent‑tax sales are handled and answered committee questions about who receives and manages the funds.
The law director said the amounts collected from tax‑sale proceedings are remitted to the county and are used to cover the law office’s operating costs, including salary and related expenses; the law director emphasized, “The law director does not get to keep the funds that are for the tax sales. They go back into his office. They'll pay for his office and his salary and his operating cost.”
Committee members asked whether the county had visibility into amounts and how much had previously been paid to outside contractors. The law director said much of the tax‑sale work that had been outsourced in prior years is now performed in‑house; that change reduced earlier contractor expenses. On the scale of proceeds, a committee member asked whether sums were in the hundreds of thousands; a speaker responded that recent sales had generated substantial sums and offered a rough figure during the discussion.
The law director also noted that statutory provisions set the amount provided to the tax‑sale attorney under the governing law; the office follows that statutory procedure when calculating fees and remitting funds into the general fund. Committee members requested that staff provide clearer documentation on flows and amounts if the public inquires.
No formal committee action was taken on the tax‑sale accounting at the meeting; the discussion served to clarify current practice and the shift from outside contractors to in‑house processing.