With a week left to go before the 2010 Barton County Tax Sale, county officials are warning property owners who are affected by the sale that they have a short time left to redeem at risk property.
County Treasurer Kevin Wondra told the Barton County Commission Monday that owners of property included in this year’s sale have until 4 p.m. Friday to pay fees, penalties and back taxes to keep the property off the sale, which is set for 10 a.m. on Oct. 12.
Wondra said there are currently 25 parcels left on the sale list.
In about three of those, owners have already expressed their plans to redeem before the deadline and he is working on contacting about three more, so the number of properties that will actually be included in the sale should be small.
Since the filings began on this year’s sale, the Treasurer’s Office has taken in more than $127,000 in taxes and fees and there is less than $41,000 still owed on the properties included in the sale.
Property redeemed from the sale at this point have back taxes, interest, penalties, abstract fees and filing fees that have to be paid, Wondra explained.
All of the properties included can be viewed on the county’s web site at www.bartoncounty.org and “click on” the current events bar.
Each of the properties has a photograph shown and Wondra said the site has drawn a great deal of interest, including from locations outside the county and region.
County Administrator Richard Boeckman added the county used to have more collected leading up to the sale, because there was more being accumulated, due to past taxes that had not been collected.
Keeping up on the sales each year also keeps the county up on taxes that are due, Boeckman added. He recalled that the first year he helped set up the sale, about 20 years ago, it was much more involved. “The first year I did this, we had over 520 parcels.”
As his staff continues to work to get as many parcels off this year’s sale as possible, they are also working to get the collection process continuing. In November, tax bills go out, starting this process all over again.