City officials are pleased with this weekend’s property auction that saw bids placed on all five single-family homes up for sale for failure to pay back taxes.
“The auction went very well,” city Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan said about the first city property auction in 10 years.
She said the unofficial total of the bids during Saturday’s auction was $878,125. The 14 properties that were bid on had back taxes, fees and penalties totaling $361,278, meaning the city could see a profit of $516,846 in the sale of properties it seized after their former owners failed to pay back taxes on them for several years.
“It looks like we will make over $500,000 after all back taxes, fees, and penalties are paid,” Madigan said.
To finalize the property sales, the City Council will have to approve the bids. Madigan will report on the auction at tonight’s City Council meeting. The council will review the bids and make a decision on each one at its August meeting.
The City Council meeting room on the first floor of City Hall was filled to standing room Saturday morning when the auction started, said Michael T. King, the city’s receiver of taxes.
The delinquent tax list was developed over the past year. But some of the owners of properties on the list have been delinquent on their taxes for three or more years, according to city officials.
Madigan’s goal was to get the delinquent properties back on the tax rolls and with only two of the properties receiving no bids, she appears to have been successful.
King said all but one of the bids were greater than the suggested low bids set by his office.
The exception was the single family house at 382 Lake Ave., which attracted a bid of $56,000, well below the suggested $80,000.
Two vacant pieces of property, one on Jordon Drive and the other on Grand Avenue Extension, got no bids.
The other properties, and the top bids placed on them Saturday:
u 386 Caroline St.: James Doyle bid $230,000.
u 4 Bemis Heights Road: Wendy Gavert bid $230,000.
u 382 Lake Ave.: Anderson Holdings LLC bid $56,000.
u 146 Middle Ave.: Timothy Yates bid $130,000.
u Vacant property on Doten Avenue: Bruce Boghosian bid $20,000.
u Vacant land on Crescent Avenue: Gordon Litke bid $100.
u 12 Lamplighter: S. McIntyre LLC bid $115,000.
u Vacant land on Jones Avenue: Wen Mei Lu bid $600.
u Vacant land on Kingspring Avenue: Wen Mei Lu bid $3,000.
u Vacant land on Hayes Spring Avenue: Wen Mei Lu bid $10,000.
u Vacant land on Pratt Drive: Jonathan Haynes bid $800.
u Vacant land on Merrill Avenue: Wen Mei Lu bid $17,500.
u Vacant land on Nelson Avenue. John Pautler bid $125.
Madigan said another city property auction may be held in two or three months because there are still several properties with significant back taxes owed.
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