Harrisonville, MO (September 1, 2021) –The Cass County Collector, Chris Molendorp, completed the 2021 Delinquent Tax Certificate Sale last Monday, August 23rd at the Historic County Courthouse in Harrisonville.
The tax lien sale offers parcels where the owner has failed to pay county property taxes for two or more years. The sale is mandated and governed by state statute, Chapter 140.
Proceeds go to pay the back taxes, and any excess and any excess is deposited into general revenues, to be held in escrow until a Collector's Deed is issued, or the taxpayer redeems the lien for back taxes.
“The county collector is charged with selling any property with delinquent taxes in order to have those taxes paid to the county and other taxing jurisdictions,” said Molendorp. “We made every attempt to contact delinquent owners and assist them in taking the steps needed to have their property removed from the sale.”
119 parcels were originally slated to be sold. With direct attempts to contact owners, and with a legally mandated publication in the Raymore Journal, the number of parcels for sale was reduced to 40. 36 of those parcels were offered for the first time, three for the second time and one for a third time. If a parcel doesn’t sell on the third offering it is transferred to the Cass County Trustee.
The 2021 sale collected just over $200,000. Of that, about $70,000 went to pay the back taxes. After expenses, the surplus for the county was approximately $127,000.
“This was a successful sale,” said Molendorp. “We recouped the taxes owed and sold the bulk of the liens. Instead of delinquent taxes, we now have 30 new taxpayers and that will help every taxing jurisdiction.”
Buyers are not directly buying the property; they are purchasing the tax lien. Buyers can then go through a process defined in state statutes to obtain a Collector’s Deed for the property.
