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Land Bank sales approved; committee issues no-bid finding for 19 tax-sale parcels with environmental or financial risk
Summary
The Core City Neighborhoods committee approved the sale of five county-owned delinquent-tax parcels and adopted a ‘no-bid’ finding for 19 additional parcels that pose environmental or financial liabilities, enabling the county to avoid default bidding at tax sale.
The Core City Neighborhoods and Housing committee approved two related land-bank actions: the sale of five county-owned delinquent-tax parcels to identified purchasers for a combined $20,780, and a no-bid resolution covering 19 parcels on the preliminary tax-sale list because the county’s environmental and land-bank review identified environmental risks or financial liabilities.
Esther Sykeswood, land bank administrator, reported the five parcels scheduled for sale would yield $20,780; she noted the delinquent taxes on those parcels totaled $32,018, meaning a negative collection figure of $11,238 when compared with tax liabilities. The land bank indicated one purchaser is an out-of-town buyer.
The committee also reviewed a preliminary 2201 tax-sale list of approximately 1,200 parcels and recommended a “no-bid” on 19 parcels after the land bank’s environmental-review manager, Chad Dugard, identified potential environmental risk or financial liabilities that would responsibly counsel against the county placing a default bid on the property at tax sale.
Commissioner Thornton raised concerns about repeat purchasers whom constituents identify as “bad actors” for buying in bulk and failing to maintain properties. Land bank staff said the offer-to-purchase includes purchaser certifications — purchasers must certify that they are not currently in violation of county or municipal building or zoning codes and that they have no delinquent taxes on properties — but acknowledged the land bank does not have the staffing to comprehensively verify compliance across many properties in real time.
The land bank said it maintains a public, map-based database of sales (back to 2013) and is exploring adding a public reporting feature or other software enhancements; staff said such a feature would likely require a paid software change order and promised to request a cost estimate and report it to commissioners.
The committee approved both the five-property sales and the no-bid resolution for 19 parcels. Staff said they will follow up on constituent reports of poor property maintenance and work with contracts/legal staff to assess any contractual recourse for purchasers who misrepresented compliance on offers to purchase.
