By JIMMY LAWTON

North Country This Week

CANTON – A shift in how the county’s handles tax auctions has caused some confusion among the public, but those *looking to view tax delinquent properties that will be up for sale can find a listing online.

Too late to redeem

The deadline for redemption of tax delinquent properties was Aug. 9, which caught some people by surprise despite the change implemented by the county more than a year ago.

Under the previous system properties could be redeemed up until the actual auction, but legislators changed that system in order to create a more accurate and up-to-date catalogue and reduce time and costs associated with constant changes to the auction book.

Under the revised law, back taxes must be paid 30 days before the auction, which will be held Sept. 8 at 10 a.m. at the Lockwood Arena in Ogdensburg.

Registration for the auction begins at 8 a.m.

“The new local law has been in effect for two foreclosure periods. After the redemption period expires, under the local law, we can't accept payments,” St. Lawrence County Attorney Stephen Button said.

More than 200 parcels are listed for sale at the auction this year.

Not in House

This time around the county also contracted out the work associated with creating and publishing the catalogue of delinquent tax properties that will be sold at auction to Auctions International, Aurora. This caused some confusion for St. Lawrence County residents who expected the property listings to be available online earlier than they were this year.

The outsourcing also delayed the physical copies of the catalogue, which will be available soon at town offices as well as at the county treasurers office.

St. Lawrence County Treasurer Renee Cole said the changes were made at direction of the county legislature. She said one of the motivations for outsourcing the tax auction to a third party was to increase the number of people reached for the sale.

She said the Auctions International has been marketing the auction to a wider area and has more expertise on how to improve participation. This could translate to better returns on properties sold at the auction.

For the first time ever, people will also be able to participate in the auction from home over the internet. To bid online buyers must register on the Auctions International website by Sept. 3 at 4 p.m.

Previews

To help people better understand the auction process, the company is also holding a pre-auction seminar Aug. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Lockwood Arena. They will also be offering open houses for some of the properties that were selected by the county. Details on those open houses will be available soon.

Although the list of properties that will be sold at the auction are available, the catalogue has not yet been posted. Once it is available it will be posted at auctionsinternational.com and on the county website Stlawco.org.