Zoning staff outline new tax-sale tool and plan September sale for properties with unpaid fines

Zoning enforcement staff said the city is using a new tool — authorized in October 2024 — that allows municipalities to record assessed zoning fines as liens that can be included in a tax sale. Gary Oberst, the hearings officer, told attendees at the July 23 session that the city had identified about a dozen properties with uncollected fines that could be placed on a tax-sale list and that the first sale is scheduled for Sept. 18, 2025.

Why it matters: staff said the tax-sale option is intended to encourage property owners to resolve long-running violations by increasing the financial consequences of noncompliance; the hearings officer framed the tool as an addition to the city’s enforcement toolbox but noted that administrative and legal steps are required to convert contingent fines to assessed judgments and liens.

Details and next steps: Oberst and staff said property owners can still cure violations and avoid the sale by paying fines or bringing properties into compliance before the sale date. The hearings officer described the administrative pathway — assessment, law-department action, filing in superior court, and then placement on land records and potential sale — and invited affected property owners to contact the zoning office for guidance. Staff said they would continue to handle individual hearing continuances and to notify owners and interested parties of deadlines; constable Bondi’s service of process was raised as an outstanding administrative detail for one matter.

Staff urged property owners with open matters to contact the zoning office and emphasized that the tax-sale path is a last-resort enforcement option intended to recover unpaid fines and spur remediation.