This hotel near the Trans-Canada Highway on the city's Southwest Hill is one of nine properties in Medicine Hat that appear on an initial list of accounts potentially headed to tax auction this spring.--News Photo
@MedicineHatNews
Nine properties appear of the city’s initial list for tax auction this spring, including a hotel and adjacent commercial properties.
Each year the city assessment department lists properties that are at least three years in arrears on tax payments for potential auction sale in March.
It is rare for tax auctions to actually proceed, and even more rare that offers are made, as property owners or lenders typically step in to finance debts.
Council’s corporate services committee meeting received the 2025 initial list on Feb. 13 to endorse reserve bid amounts.
Unless arrangements are made March 31, they will be offered for sale “as is” that day.
“It’s nine properties, but we hope by the time the auction is set to occur, we hope it is down to zero,” said Denise Schmaltz, customer services manager with the city’s collections office.
The list includes a hotel at 773 Eighth St. SW, along with separate commercial properties across the street at Nos. 776 and 780 on the same block.
Also on the list are two condo units in the same building on 16th Street NE, homes on Sissons Crescent, Terrace Drive and 20th Avenue SE, plus one manufactured home on Rose Street.
An average of 11 properties have appeared on initial auction lists over the last decade, including between six and 14 properties initially listed in each of the last six years.
Of those 58 properties since 2019, only eight were subject to sale at the deadline, with four seized and sold by the city subsequent to auction.
