County auditor briefs supervisors on plans to resume tax-sale auctions; timeline spans months to a year

Mendocino County's auditor-controller told supervisors on May 6 the county last ran a tax-sale auction in June 2019 and has not conducted one since. Staff have been rebuilding the process after pandemic-era pauses and institutional knowledge gaps, the auditor said.

Jamice Kubison said the county has recently hired a chief deputy treasurer-tax collector with relevant experience and is reconstituting the title-search, interested-party-notice and legal-description workflows necessary for tax-sale auctions. She warned the process is lengthy, with multiple steps and a statutorily preserved rescission window after sales, and that staff anticipate it could take many months to prepare.

Kubison estimated the office could be ready to conduct an initial auction in the fall of next year but said the timeline depends on document recovery and possible vendor contracting for title searches. She noted roughly 270 notices had been prepared in the current staff's work and that there are additional legacy items that must be resurrected from hand-documented records.

Why it matters: Tax-sale auctions are one method counties test to resolve long-standing tax delinquencies, but the legal and administrative process requires careful steps to protect property owners' rights and to reduce rescissions.

Ending: The auditor-controller said the office is in contact with other counties and the State for process guidance and will return with status updates as the work progresses.