Only six properties on initial tax auction list
By COLLIN GALLANT on March 2, 2019.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant The number of potential tax auction properties for 2019 is fewer than last year, a city committee heard this week, while administrators expect more will drop off before the planned auction at the end of April. Six property tax accounts that are at least four years in arrears were presented to corporate services committee Tuesday, along with minimum reserve bids. That’s compared to 18 on an initial list presented ahead of the 2018 auction that eventually saw just three offered for sale and – for the first time since at least 2000 – a qualified bid. Each year the city collections department must by provincial regulation create a list, though administrators state that owners or mortgage holders typically make arrangements before they go up for sale. “Our collections team works closely with owners and their creditors,” said commissioner Brian Mastel. “Most of the accounts are settled, but we’re required to post the list.” Already this year the list has shrunk from nine properties first published in the Alberta Gazette in January to the current six. They are a commercial building on N. Railway Street, residences on Connaught Drive and Elm Street, a mobile home, as well as two parking stalls at a south-end condominium complex. Such stalls have separate titles, and therefore their own tax roll account. Two related parking stalls appeared at auction in 2018 after administrators said they belonged to a defunct numbered company that failed to transfer them to the condo corporation during its windup. They earned no bids last spring and were seized by the city. Adminstrators said this week the plan for them, whether to be marketed, was still unclear. Adminsitrators are also required to set reserve bids at market value, according to provincial regulations, which can deter bargain hunters and generally dampen activity at auctions. If a sale occurs, the proceeds are returned to property owners once debts are extinguished. 13-12
