When Carroll County has its delinquent tax sale in April, it will no longer include two different sales at two different times, it will now all be online. The board of supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of the measure.
Ryan Matthew with Govease explained to the Carroll County Supervisors how much more efficient it would be to move their delinquent sales tax to an auction online. Currently, Tax Assessor/Collector Wilton Neal holds two auctions, one for the first judicial district which covers the northern half of the county and a second for the second judicial district which covers the southern half of the county.
One auction is held in the morning and one is held in the evening. A resident in the audience said he’s been wanting to come to the Carroll County auctions, but Holmes County has their auction at the same time and he can’t get to both.
The resident said he’s from DeSoto County, but lives in Carroll County and has used the online auction service before.
“So, you like it?” Neill asked.
“I love it,” he said.
However, with the board approving the delinquent tax auction to happen online, he can “attend” both.
Neal told the board the tax sales would be sent to the newspaper as they have been, but there will be wording changed informing people the auction will be held online.
Deputy Tax Assessor/Collector Clerk Tammy Inmon said Montgomery County had already approved for their tax sales to go online as well.
“What about Panola County?” Supervisor Jim Neill asked.
“Yes, we do work with Panola County,” Matthew said.
“What about Oktibbeha County?” Neill asked.
“I think we’re on their agenda for their first meeting in March,” Matthew said.
He said when the law was passed in 2015, they did a pilot program in Madison and Lee counties, both home to three of Mississippi’s more metropolitan towns, Madison, Ridgeland and Tupelo.
“We’re in either 65 or 66 counties now. We’re in the state’s biggest counties, Harrison, Jackson, Hancock -- you know they’re all on the coast -- DeSoto County to Chickasaw and Benton counties. So, we’re in just about every part of the state. From the bottom to the top, even in the counties in the middle,” Matthew said.
He said the company does all the legwork for the buyer. Where the buyer had to do all the research in the past, with the online auction, it will already be at the buyer’s fingertips.
Matthew said when buyers register for the site, they are vetted by the county to ensure the buyer will pay for their purchase at time of sale. And it is the county’s decision to allow them to buy or not. He said the online auction is now cost neutral, meaning if the county makes more money off of the sale, then Matthew said they will bill the county from the overage. He said they get a quarter of each sale made.
“If the county doesn’t make any additional money, then you don’t pay,” he said. Matthew said it will still be a one day event but both sales will now happen simultaneously.
He said when the sale goes online, it will be done one parcel at a time. The parcel will come up on the screen and buyers will have 30 seconds to purchase. Whoever the highest bidder is at the end of the 30 seconds wins the bid. He said a person can’t “bid snipe” by coming in at the last minute and win the bid.
“If a bid is placed with 10 seconds left, then there will be another 10 seconds added to the clock,” he said.
Neill asked him if a person could bid from an iPad.
“Yes, it’s compatible with iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC, you name it. You can even buy from your phone,” he said. Matthew said the contract with the county is year by year and if at any point, the county doesn’t think it’s working for them they can end it.
“What if a parcel doesn’t sale? Does it go to the state?” Neill asked.
“Yes, if a parcel doesn’t sale, we’ll send those in to the Department of Revenue and the buyer will be the State of Mississippi,” he said.
Neal and Circuit Clerk Durward Stanton said they’ve had trouble in the past with people coming the day of the auction and redeeming their property.
“If that happens, then just give us a call before the sale happens and we’ll pull the parcel,” he said.
