LAWTON – Scores of property owners in Comanche County will have an extra year to pay their delinquent ad valorem taxes.
Due to the State of Emergency declared by Governor Kevin Stitt caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Comanche County Board of Commissioners postponed delinquent tax sales for a year at the request of County Treasurer Rhonda Brantley.
The public health crisis brought commerce to a virtual standstill, employees were laid off by the tens of thousands, Americans throughout the nation were advised to stay at home, and courthouses across the state were closed to the public in late March. The Comanche County Courthouse reopened to the public on Monday, but in limited measure: no more than 100 people at a time.
Taxes were in arrears on 208 properties in Comanche County Wednesday morning, Treasurer Brantley said.
“We’re still collecting those taxes,” she said. “They’re just going to have another year to pay what’s owed.” Otherwise, the property will be put up for sale a year from now.
A breakdown of the types of property on which taxes are overdue was not readily available, she said. “It could be land only, it could be land with buildings, it could be commercial.”
Owners of real estate on which taxes are already overdue should take note: taxes and interest will continue to accrue in Fiscal Year 2021, which starts July 1, Brantley said.
Comanche County government will not lose any money, she said. “Either the owner of the property will pay the taxes due, or the property will be sold at the next scheduled resale” on June 14, 2021.
Properties on the tax sale auction block are sold by legal description, starting with real estate in Lawton and moving on to the smaller towns in the county, Brantley said.
The Treasurer herself conducts the auction, usually in the county commissioners’ courtroom on the third floor of the courthouse in downtown Lawton. The bidding starts with the amount of taxes due or two-thirds of the property’s assessed valuation, whichever is the lesser amount, Brantley said. Bids are accepted in increments of $100.
Bidders can get a list in the Treasurer’s Office of all real estate that will be put up for auction, and photos of the properties are available in a spiral notebook in the office.
The Comanche County Treasurer’s Office also has a list of approximately 40 parcels of real estate that are for sale right now because of delinquent ad valorem taxes, Brantley said. These are properties that no one purchased at previous tax sales.
“These are primarily land only, small lots,” the Treasurer said.
Anyone interested in one of those properties can submit a bid, accompanied with the funds. The Treasurer then notifies the Board of County Commissioners, who authorize a tax sale, and the sale is advertised for four weeks.