Corporation counsel told the Administration and Finance Committee that Adams County will remove three occupied parcels from a 2,024‑property foreclosure auction listing and amend foreclosure judgments to allow the owners an opportunity to pay outstanding taxes.

Counsel said the matter arose after the county posted foreclosed properties on Wisconsin Surplus and learned three remained occupied. Because the foreclosures and postings occurred while the county temporarily lacked an in‑house treasurer and corporation counsel, the county will remove the three properties from the auction listing, amend the foreclosure judgments and give the property owners a chance to pay taxes before reoffering any unsold parcels.

Why this matters: counsel said a recent national Supreme Court case (referred to in the meeting as the “Taylor case”) holds that counties cannot retain surplus proceeds beyond taxes and actual expenses; as a result, counties must attempt to sell foreclosed properties at fair market value and can only retain taxes plus actual expenses if an auction produces surplus funds.

Details and next steps

- Numbers: counsel said 2,024 foreclosed parcels were posted; three of those were found to be occupied and will be removed from the posted auction listing. Counsel said the county is working on the larger set of 2,025 REM foreclosures for subsequent steps.

- Valuation and reserve pricing: counsel and committee members discussed using assessed values versus tax‑bill fair market values for initial listing prices. Committee members noted the county ordinance (cited as Ordinance No. 6) governs lowering prices and the frequency of price reductions if parcels do not sell at fair market value.

- Revenue expectations: counsel said the county can legally collect only back taxes plus documented, out‑of‑pocket expenses (for title reports, fees, etc.), not any surplus beyond those amounts, per the court decision discussed.

Next steps

Corp counsel will amend the foreclosure judgments for the three occupied parcels, give owners the opportunity to pay taxes, and, if owners do not pay, add the parcels back into the larger REM foreclosure auction process.

Ending

Committee members discussed valuation approaches and the legal constraints on retaining surplus proceeds; counsel and staff will proceed with judgment amendments and administrative steps consistent with the court ruling and county ordinance.