By Allison Morrissey
La Plata County Treasurer
Pssst.
Let me tell you about a great money making opportunity the La Plata County government is required to offer all of you.
This year you can make up to a 10-percent return on this investment. Do I have your attention?
It's called the "Tax Lien Public Auction." As required by Colorado State Statute, this auction happens between mid-October and early December in all Colorado counties. In La Plata County, traditionally this happens in mid-November. This year the La Plata County Tax Lien Auction will be from Friday, Nov. 13 through Monday, Nov. 16, closing at 5 p.m. More information, including what will be for sale, will be available on the county's website: http://co.laplata.co.us. The Durango Herald will publish all tax liens for sale, beginning in mid-October, each week for three consecutive weeks.
In recent years many counties have migrated from hosting "live" sales where people come to a specific location, drink coffee, eat doughnuts, and then bid on tax liens, to hosting them on a website. This works a lot like e-Bay. Thus this process promotes "fairness" to all bidders, as you can now participate in many different auctions without having to travel to the various counties. The auction website will link to La Plata County's website, allowing you to view the properties you are bidding on while you are deciding what to bid on and how much you want to invest.
Online auctions are beneficial to the county in many ways. We are reducing our administrative costs because we no longer have to provide a room for the auction, close our office, spend days moving our equipment to and from the auction site, print out reams of paper to satisfy each bidder, provide you with coffee and doughnuts, and process your paper cashier's checks for the amount of your winning bids. As you can see, there are real savings to be had. And, in addition, the treasurer's office can make some money in this process. This money which goes towards vital, valued county services such as police and fire safety programs. How does this happen? Because online auctions attract more bidders, and more bidders mean that "premiums paid" increase.
Here is how a tax lien auction works. County treasurers are required by law to collect all property taxes in a given year. Sometimes people cannot pay their property taxes during this year, or they forget to pay them, or they don't believe they should have to pay them. There is no judgment on our part as to why taxes aren't paid. We just have to collect them in all ways allowed by law. So, county treasurers must sell all of these unpaid property taxes to someone who is willing to pay them. This is done through the public auction of tax liens in the late fall of the year, and by offering a good return on this investment. The return is set annually, according to state statute. This year it is 10 percent simple interest.
As an "online" auction is new for La Plata County this year, I have scheduled some information sessions, or training sessions, on how to participate and get the most from this type of investment. Webinars are scheduled for every Friday in October. These last for about one hour. To sign up for one of these sessions, please call RealAuction Customer Service at (877) 361-7325. Each Friday session is offered at a different time, to accommodate different schedules. You will participate in these sessions in the privacy of your own home or office. All of these sessions are free.
If you would prefer to attend a "live" session rather than a webinar, we are offering these on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at the county administration building on 11th Street. Sessions will last an hour and you can "drop in." A representative from Real Auction, the website host, as well as the county treasurer will be there to answer all of your questions. These sessions will be beneficial to those of you who have never participated in a tax lien auction before. These sessions are also free. But please, do not expect coffee or doughnuts for this price!