Auburn staff outline new state rules for tax-acquired property and propose vacant-building permit and registry

Auburn City staff presented the council a plan Thursday to update the city's tax-acquired property policy to comply with a new state law (referred to in the meeting as "LD 101") and introduced draft language for a privately owned vacant-building registry and permit.

The updates, presented by Finance staffer Kelsey Earl and city staffers handling property disposition and code enforcement, would require the city to produce an itemized accounting of all costs tied to any tax-acquired parcel, record that accounting at the registry of deeds, obtain an appraisal before retaining property for municipal use, and use a broker for up to 12 months to attempt sale of properties not retained for municipal purposes.

Why it matters: The new statutory steps change how long and how the city documents tax defaults, foreclosures and post-foreclosure disposition. Staff said the requirements add administrative work—appraisals, itemized cost filings and broker retention—but are intended to protect former owners and ensure sales are conducted in line with state law.

Earl summarized the statutory timeline that leads to city-held tax-acquired parcels: tax bills are mailed in August, halves due in September and March; after the March installment a courtesy notice may be sent, then a 30-day statutory notice in May; if unpaid a lien is filed (statutory window); owners then have 18 months after the lien filing to pay before an automatic foreclosure, with a 45-day foreclosure notice sent ahead of that end point. Staff emphasized that a former owner retains a 30-day redemption window after the automatic foreclosure, meaning the practical owner-redemption period is roughly 19 months; staff said the city typically waits about two years from the tax due date before taking staff-level action on the property.

Under LD 101, staff said, the city must itemize and file costs (legal, staff time, taxes, fees) with the registry of deeds, and must obtain an appraisal if deciding to retain a parcel for municipal use; any surplus after selling at the appraised value minus itemized costs would go to the former owner. If a parcel is not retained for municipal use, the law requires the city to retain a broker and provide 12 months for broker-based sale at the highest feasible price before the municipality may dispose of the property by other means.

On vacant privately owned buildings, city staff described a proposed ordinance establishing a registry and permitting program. The draft would define a building as vacant/abandoned when it has been unused for at least 60 days and lists indicators such as unsecured doors or windows, visible interior debris, weather damage or repeated unauthorized entry. Owners, mortgage holders or their agents would be required to apply for either a standard vacant-building permit (showing the building is secure and has an identified contact) or an interim vacant-building inspection permit (listing items not in compliance and steps required to remedy them). The permit program would require contact information, inspection rights, a checklist of minimum safety measures and two separate fee schedules (staff said the ad hoc fee committee was reviewing rates; staff noted Augusta's fee example: $200 commercial and $100 residential).

Code enforcement staff indicated the ordinance would include an escalating-fee structure for serial noncompliance (models under review include Sanford and Bangor) and would treat commercial and single-family properties differently, including using a percentage-vacancy threshold for multi-tenant commercial buildings (for example, a building that is 60% vacant may trigger requirements).

Staff said the city has identified roughly a half dozen tax-acquired properties of immediate interest for potential sale or municipal retention after screening an initial list of more than 100 parcels down to about 30 and then a smaller set for market action or municipal uses such as Housing First parcels. The city also proposed an RFP for on-call appraisal services (a list of prequalified appraisers on retainer for 24-36 months) to avoid commissioning a full appraisal from scratch for each parcel.

Councilors asked about examples used in drafting the ordinance (staff said they reviewed ordinances in Augusta, Sanford and Bangor), permit fees (still to be set by council; Augusta's fees cited), how the ordinance would treat landlords with partially vacant multi-tenant buildings (staff said the draft includes multiple criteria beyond vacancy alone), and whether enforcement would be complaint-driven or proactive (staff said both; however code currently operates primarily on complaints and staff capacity limits proactive inspections).

Staff stressed the city's intent is to keep properties with former owners where feasible and to avoid eviction except for safety reasons; staff said actual evictions have been rare ("I think we've only done 2 in the last 20 years of actual evictions," Kelsey Earl said).

Next steps: staff said legal counsel is reviewing the city's 2017 tax-acquired policy and will return revised policy language and a draft vacant-building ordinance and related RFPs (appraisal services and a broker-search RFP) to council for further consideration. No formal council vote occurred Thursday on the policy or ordinance; staff asked for council feedback as they prepare the draft ordinance for a future agenda.

Ending note: Councilors repeatedly stressed clarity for landlords and property owners and urged staff to prepare clear application materials, fee proposals and public-facing guidance.