Delinquent Taxes Net $3.3 Million

BENTONVILLE — Benton County’s school districts and city and county governments recovered about $3.3 million last year in delinquent property taxes from the Commissioner of State Lands Office.

Land Commissioner John Thurston was in Bentonville on Wednesday to present officials with a facsimile check for the $3,375,703 the state recovered in 2012. The money was recovered from redemption and selling delinquent properties certified to the state office.

Thurston also presented officials with a replica of an 1837 plat for Township 20 North, Range 30 West that includes the area of the present county seat and courthouse. The original document remains in the archives of the Land Commissioner’s office in Little Rock.

Web Watch

Owners of delinquent property interested in redeeming their land can contact the Commissioner of State lands Office at 501-683-3053. Potential buyers can find more information about the process by calling the office at 501-324-9422 or on the office website at www.cosl.org.

Source: Staff Report

Arkansas counties will hold tax-delinquent properties on their rolls for one year, Thurston said. Once a parcel accumulates two years of unpaid taxes it's prepared for certification to the Commissioner of State Lands Office. That office tries to collect the taxes before selling the property at auction.

“Our goal is not to send properties to auction,” Thurston said. “Typically they don’t go to sale until they are 4 1/2 or 5 years delinquent.”

This year’s auction of delinquent properties in Benton County is June 5 at the Embassy Suites Convention Center in Rogers, Thurston said. For Washington County, he said, the auction will be June 6 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale. Phillip Carper, public affairs liaison with the Lands Office, said Washington County received about $1.93 million from selling delinquent property in 2012. The website f0r the office has a feature providing maps and street views of parcels being offered for sale, Carper said.

Property owners may still redeem their delinquent properties up to 30 days after the auction, Thurston said. State law on the sale and redemption of properties has recently been changed to cut that from 30 days to 10 days, Thurston said. His office is seeking clarification on the law and it won’t go into effect in 2013, Thurston said.

County Judge Bob Clinard said most of the county’s share goes into the general fund and the 2012 proceeds have been budgeted.

Benton County received about 10 percent of the proceeds from selling property in 2012, according to Sarah Daniels, county comptroller. The county typically receives the money about a year after the sale is completed, Daniels said. The county budgeted $295,000 from the proceeds in the General Fund for 2013 and another $45,000 in the Road Fund, Daniels said.

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