How to resolve AdBlock issue? On Tuesday afternoon, Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen presented to the board a list of 490 properties proposed for tax sale from June 5 to 8 on the Bid4Assets website.
Minimum bids for all of those properties total $2,944,800, according to Ringen’s report.
Owners who are behind in their taxes have up until just before the auction to pay off their tax bill and redeem their properties.
Ringen said the properties won’t be available for view on Bid4Assets until 30 days before the auction.
The county held its last tax sale from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2.
The Bid4Assets site shows that 141 properties were listed, 63 were sold, 13 were withdrawn or postponed and 65 did not sell.
The specifics of that past sale, including the amount of money it brought in for the county, should become clearer soon; Ringen told Lake County News a preliminary report on the sale with more precise numbers is expected to be available on Wednesday.
Over the last few years, a dearth of tax sales has caused friction between Ringen and Board Chair Bruno Sabatier, as well as the city of Clearlake, which has sued the county over the issue and its allegations that Ringen has violated state law by not pursuing the sales in a more timely manner. The city also has argued that not having enough sales amounts to millions in lost revenue.
The city of Clearlake appealed to state agencies to address the issue and on Dec. 15 State Controller Betty T. Yee wrote to Ringen about her office’s inquiry.
Yee concluded by offering two recommendations to Ringen:
– Identify in the tax-default property listing all paper subdivisions and other properties that are unlikely to sell at a tax sale to provide perspective on the challenges of selling tax-defaulted properties.
– Offer to sell 1,000 tax-defaulted properties per year in order to be in compliance with Revenue Taxation Code section 3962 in about six years. That code section requires that if a property is not sold at a recent tax-default sale because there were no acceptable bids, the tax collector is required to attempt to sell the property at intervals of no more than six years until the property is sold.
Board supports proposal
“I think 490 is a decent start,” Supervisor Jessica Pyska said of the number of properties to be offered in the June sale.
With the expectation that many properties will be redeemed, Pyska asked about the strategy for getting the county to a higher number of properties for sale.
Ringen said she expects to have 1,000 properties for sale a year, which will be the total number that she’ll bring to the board.
She said her department sends notifications to taxpayers on an ongoing basis to get them to pay their property taxes. They also notify them of payment plans when they’re eligible. “Offering them a tax sale would be our last option,” she said.
Pyska estimated that based on the number of properties that have been redeemed in the past, that about 500 properties would actually be sold.
Ringen said the goal is to have property owners redeem property and not sell them. She said the parcels to be offered in June are land only or unoccupied structures that may be red-tagged and are not as desirable as some of the properties, but that 1,000 properties per year would be the maximum.
Pyska asked if there is a way to increase it. “We’ve got such a backlog,” she said of tax-defaulted properties.
Ringen said no, the number couldn’t be increased. She said she believes there are 4,600 properties countywide eligible for tax sale but most of them are in the paper subdivisions – lots that are small and unbuildable. She said she plans to bring a report on those properties to the board.
“I have been pretty tough on you this past two years,” said Sabatier, noting that he’s really pleased about the list of 490 properties.
He admitted to being hesitant that Ringen would be able to get such a high number of properties ready for tax auction in the short period of time since the last auction.
Sabatier said he was pleased that people are paying off their taxes. “Our goal is not to have this amount of tax defaults.”
If people pay it off their taxes, it’s a win, if the county sells the properties, it’s a win, he said, because the number in tax default will be reduced.
“I think that this is a very good step forward,” he said, telling Ringen he appreciated the work her department had done. “I hope that this is a page-turning moment.”
He said part of the board’s approval of the list included allowing the minimum bids for 74 properties that haven’t been previously sold to be reduced in order to sell them.
The 74 properties to have their minimum prices reduced originally totaled $1.9 million, but a $1.1 million reduction has put those total minimum bids down to $790,000, he said.
Sabatier asked Ringen her about one property on Emory Avenue in Clearlake that was reduced by $161,000 from an original minimum bid of $181,500. Ringen said the property has been in tax default since 2009 and had been offered for sale several times, beginning in 2017, but hadn’t sold. Originally there was a structure on the property, it has had two nuisance abatement liens placed on it totaling about $59000, plus taxes and penalties and delinquent sewer fees of $2,000.
Sabatier asked if Ringen’s plan is to have another tax auction of about the same size in early 2022. Ringen said they may be doing one larger tax sale later in that year – rather than two smaller ones – due to a staffer who is expected to be out for several months.
Supervisor EJ Crandell said the tax sales will make a difference in his community and his Northshore district, where there are many tax-defaulted and problem properties.
“This is the path to solving it,” he said.
Crandell offered the resolution, which the board approved 5-0.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
