Delinquent property taxes up in county – tax lien sale scheduled for Oct. 30

By Laura Snider

For the Ledger

The number of property owners in Boulder County who still haven’t paid their taxes is up 73 percent compared with last fall.

The county treasurer has published a list of 1,234 property owners who owe a combined $5 million to the county in delinquent property taxes — and whose debt may be sold at a tax lien auction on Oct. 30. Last year, only 715 properties were advertised before the auction.

The economy probably played a significant role in the increase, but the auction is also being held two weeks earlier this year than last, which shortened the time that property owners had to get their taxes paid before the official list of properties was published, said Deputy Treasurer Steve Elliot.

That is probably helping to inflate the numbers. It’s also likely that many folks will step up and pay their back taxes before the auction takes place.

About 30 percent of the properties with unpaid taxes are in the Longmont area, which includes Niwot, according to Elliot. Boulder holds the second highest amount, with 27 percent of the properties; followed by unincorporated Boulder County, with 14 percent; and Lafayette, with 11 percent.

Owners who didn’t pay their annual property taxes by June 15 were considered delinquent.

In Broomfield, the number of properties to be published in advance of that city’s tax lien auction is up only 14 percent compared with last fall.

A tax lien sale gives investors the opportunity to buy property tax debt from the county and collect it with 10 percent annual interest from the property owner. That allows the county, in turn, to collect the money that’s needed by school districts and 90 other government entities that are funded in part by property taxes.

Delinquent property owners have three years to pay the new lien holder, after which time the lien holder could get a treasurer’s deed and take the property. But don’t count on it, said Bob Hullinghorst, county treasurer.

“One of the things that worries people most — and I don’t know where they get this idea — is that we are selling their houses,” he said. “We are not selling their houses. We have investors who come in who are investing in these tax liens. Some of these investors may hope that they’re going to get the title to the property in three and a half years. But we try to tell everyone that that never really happens.”

It’s so infrequent, in fact, that only two properties have reverted to tax lien investors in more than 20 years, Hullinghorst said.

The taxes due on properties this year range from about $25 to nearly $150,000, but most owe a few thousand dollars.

In last year’s auction, investors paid a total of $1.8 million for tax liens on 508 properties.