Avoyelles Police Jury wants to sell 'tax sale' properties

If the Avoyelles Police Jury could wave a magic wand and be able to sell all the property currently listed in its name, it would be able to put its road crews into overdrive and crank up the ditch diggers without fear of budget deficits.
However, there’s no such thing as magic -- but there are complicated property laws that make such quick sales unlikely and unwise.
Despite those legal obstacles, at its Jan. 10 meeting the Police Jury adopted a three-option process by which it hopes to turn maintenance liabilities into current cash receipts and future property tax generators.
This is not the first time the Police Jury has looked at the properties that have been turned over to the parish for non-payment of taxes and wondered how it can turn all of that green grass it has to mow into green cash it can use to fund public works projects.
Juror Marsha Wiley has been assigned the task to ramrod the jury’s latest effort to turn the maintenance liabilities into financial assets.
There are 71 properties currently listed as “adjudicated to the parish.” All but a few of those are still likely to be redeemed by their previous owners -- called the “debtor taxpayer” -- and are not good candidates for sale.
In going over the Police Jury’s adjudicated properties prior to the monthly meeting, Assessor Heath Pastor told the newspaper there are 13 parcels currently beyond the five-year redemption period. The tracts have a combined assessed value of $50,000.
Of that amount, $22,000 is for a lot and house in Simmesport that has been a Police Jury property since 2010.
The remaining properties have been on the parish property list for less than five years -- most being adjudicated to the parish after a Sheriff’s Sale in May 2016.
If the jury could sell those properties for their assessed value -- which may be lower than their market value -- it would receive over $1.3 million.
Most of those probably will be redeemed by the “debtor taxpayer” within a year, based on past experience with properties in the adjudication process.
Pastor said a thorough title search must be done on the properties before they are sold, regardless of which option is used. That cost would be added to the “minimum bid” price.
In addition to earning revenue, returning property to the tax rolls and eliminating maintenance costs, Pastor said the parish would also reduce potential liability for the unused properties.
Property owners have three years in which to redeem property sold at a Sheriff’s Tax Sale. Those owners may be able to reclaim the property up to five years after the sale if it is adjudicated to the parish, Pastor said.
After five years, “the door is closed,” Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Gaspard told jurors at the Jan. 5 committee meeting, where most of the discussion of the issue occurred prior to adopting the policy at the regular monthly meeting.
Gaspard has been assigned the chore of shepherding the jury through the adjudicated property minefield.
Several of the properties on the Police Jury list are “reruns” or “yo-yos.” They have been listed as parish property due to unpaid taxes, been redeemed by their owners and then put back on the list in a subsequent year for non-payment of taxes.
Every time a property is redeemed, its past year or years as a parish tax property are erased. The three-year and five-year period starts all over when it once again goes to the Tax Sale.

THREE OPTIONS
There are three ways the Police Jury will be able to sell property that it has possessed for over five years.
The easiest, and probably less productive, is to submit the properties to the next Sheriff’s Sale. The sheriff would have to agree, but jurors felt there would be no objections.
Gaspard pointed out that the reason the properties were handed over to the Police Jury was because no private party submitted a bid for them, suggesting there may be something wrong with the property that makes it undesireable.
The main advantage is that it would provide the possibility that some properties in that 1- to 4-year window could be purchased by investors and remove those parcels from the parish’s responsibility. The Sheriff’s Sale option would cost the Police Jury nothing and would avoid any administrative headaches. It also would yield very little revenue. If a property was not bought at that sale, the jury could submit it again the next year.
A second option is to sell the properties directly to an interested buyer, either individually or in multi-tract bundles. Gaspard said that process is “more complicated,” but carries the prospect of generating more revenue for the parish.
Under that process, the jury would determine a minimum bid price for the property, advertise it for sale and then accept the high bid -- as long as it exceeds that minimum bid. Gaspard said the Police Jury has discretion to set the minimum bid, but it has to be enough to cover the past due taxes and any costs incurred to prepare the land for sale -- including appraisal, title work, advertising costs, etc.
For example, if there is a $50,000 house with $1,000 of back taxes and $350 in processing fees, the Police Jury could not sell it for less than $1,350. However, it could set a minimum bid of $11,350 -- $10,000 more than the statutorily-required minimum. With competitive bidding for the property, the jury might receive a high bid of $25,000.
Under that example, the bidder gets a piece of property at half-price and the jury generates some revenue from property that had been costing the parish money to maintain. In addition to the sale receipt, the property would be returned to the tax rolls and be taxed the next year.

"GOOD FAITH" DEPOSITS
Interested bidders would be required to submit a “good faith” deposit equal to the processing fees prior to bidding. The winning bidder would have that deposit applied to the purchase cost. The losers would get their deposit checks back.
In past efforts to divest itself of unwanted properties, the jury incurred costs and then either received no bids to purchase the property or bids that were less than the processing costs. The “good faith deposit” requirement would eliminate that possibility since those costs would not be incurred unless there are interested buyers.
The third method of sale applies only to adjacent landowners who have maintained the adjudicated property for at least a year. In those special circumstances, the Police Jury can sell the property directly to the adjacent landowner without advertising or accepting competing bids. This would be particularly useful for some small lots or partial lots in municipalities that are too small for a house or other use. However, it would be a good way for an adjacent landowner to extend their yard and eliminate a potential eyesore next door.
To be eligible for this process, the adjacent landowner must have maintained the adjudicated tract -- cleaning, mowing, raking, etc. -- for at least a year.