In a growing trend, another town considers tax title auction OPTION

In a growing trend, another town considers tax title auction OPTION
Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

Following a more recent statewide trend, Hubbardston may soon look to offload delinquent tax titles to a collection agency in a public auction.

Selectman Raeanne Siegal raised the subject with Town Administrator Anita Scheipers, who took it to the board Monday night for their opinion, which was positive, with the board being receptive to the idea of pursuing a tax title auction.

According to Ms. Scheipers, other communities have effectively sold their liens through this process, which guarantees that the town is paid the full amount owed and passes the collection responsibility onto the purchasing entity.

“It has been a very effective way for towns to get revenue that’s owed to them and we need to do our due diligence,” Ms. Scheipers stated.

Although there has been some recent backlash against the practice, with towns selling off liens of relatively little value and leaving residents paying high interest back on a debt as little as $1,000, Ms. Scheipers said Hubbardston ultimately decides which liens go to the auction block and can put a threshold in place — guaranteeing that only titles of substantial value are sold.

Those details, the administrator said, can be worked out once she and the town’s treasurer meet with an agency.

“If it looks like it’s an appropriate thing for Hubbardston to go ahead and do, I think that we can put together some criteria as to which properties we would be willing to sell off to a collection agency,” she said.

When asked, Ms. Scheipers stated that she was reluctant to give a definitive amount the town is owed in back taxes or how many properties have liens against them because she is currently working with the newly hired tax collector to determine which properties are actually behind on their payments.

“There’s some properties that we feel very comfortable to say that they are indeed in tax title, but that is a very small list,” Ms. Scheipers commented. “We are not at the point where the new tax collector would be willing to say ‘yes,’ this is the totally accurate list.”

Once used more by larger cities such as Worcester that annually sell their liens at auction, smaller towns have increasingly turned to the practice to ease the burden placed on the treasurer and tax collector’s offices while generating revenue at a time when most municipalities are strapped for cash.

Early last month, Templeton sold its liens to the Bostonbased Tallage LLC for $304,890. Town officials in Winchendon have stated that they will likely pursue a sale of their delinquent titles to help bridge their $3.4 million budget deficit.

In Hubbardston, Ms. Scheipers said she would meet with a representative from an agency and report back to the selectmen with more details about the idea.