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County auditors outline new tax-forfeiture rules after Tyler decision and announce online auction schedule

Stearns County Board of Commissioners · November 5, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Auditor-Treasurer staff explained new procedures for legacy, settlement and 2024-onward forfeitures, warned about clean-up costs and predatory surplus-claim firms, and said six new-forfeiture parcels will be offered in an online auction beginning Nov. 28 with first-sale closing Dec. 16.

Stearns County land-records staff told the Board of Commissioners on Nov. 4 that changes after the Tyler v. Hennepin litigation require the county to treat three distinct groups of forfeited parcels differently and that new timelines will drive online auctions and surplus-claim procedures.

"Following that lawsuit, there's really 3 buckets that we're gonna be looking at now," said Mark Iverson, land records coordinator, describing legacy sales (forfeitures in 2015 and earlier), settlement-sale inventory (forfeitures from 2016–2023 subject to the state settlement), and new forfeitures (01/01/2024 onward) that must be offered in two sales within six months.

Key changes and process: Iverson said settlement properties (2016–2023) must be offered for sale and county boards…

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