M.D. preparing for tax recovery sale

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Vauxhall Advance

By Cole Parkinson
Vauxhall Advance
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

Come late November, the Municipal District of Taber is preparing for three pieces of land to be available in a tax recovery sale.

During council’s regular meeting held on Sept. 24, councillors discussed the land in question and how the sale will proceed.

To ensure residents who are required to pay municipal taxes do so, the Municipal Government Act Recovery of Taxes Related to Land ensures municipalities can collect outstanding taxes that are due.

This tax recovery process authorizes the M.D., through established timelines and procedures, the ability to recover unpaid property taxes and it includes the possession and sale of properties, distribution of surplus sale proceeds and final disposition of the land parcels.

“This year we have three properties that are coming up in the timeline for tax recovery procedures and one of the requirements is to set a reserve bid as well as the terms and conditions of the tax sale. What we have is a proposed tax sale day of November 22, 2019, as well as conditions of the sale which are very standard to what other municipalities have for their tax sales,” said Bryan Badura, director of corporate services.

“We work together to get property owners to pay their taxes and keep in contact with them or anybody registered on the title to let them know what is happening. This by phone call and not just letters and things like that to try and encourage people to pay their taxes or at least let them know this is what’s happening.”

The lands in question are located at Plan 4072GX, Block 3, Lot 36 in Division 5 with a reserve value of $12,000; Plan 9510190, Block 1, Lot 1, in Division 3 with a reserve value of $102,000; and Plan 7285 AQ, Block 7, lot 15 and 16 in Division 6 with a reserve value of $6,000.

“The first property is a vacant lot in the hamlet of Hays. The second is a small, roughly one acre subdivided parcel, south of Grassy with a house on it. The final one is a vacant lot in Retlaw,” continued Badura. “The landowner has the opportunity to pay all of the arrears off up until 10 a.m. on November 22 and then it is not on sale anymore. Once a tax sale happens, if potentially it is sold, it goes through the past sale procedure. If it is sold, we put the money into our tax sale trust account and the owner could make a claim after we pay our costs and taxes to the leftover funds. Or if the property is not sold in the tax sale, the municipality has an opportunity to take that.”

A motion was made that the Municipal District of Taber offer for sale on November 22, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. by Public Auction those lands appearing on the 2018 Tax Arrears List, that arrears remain unpaid, with the following terms and conditions listed in the sale documents, and was carried unanimously.

Councillors Brian Brewin and Murray Reynolds were absent from the meeting.