Tax sale registration rules changed

Blair requiring earlier registration for buying delinquent properties

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The Blair County Commissioners will require interested bidders for the upcoming delinquent tax sale to fill out a form and register at least 12 days prior to the sale.

The new procedure was approved Thursday.

The county's Upset Tax Sale, where purchasers receive a clear title to tax delinquent properties, is scheduled for Sept. 22.

Blair County Tax Claim Bureau Director Polly Cardone said individuals who want to bid in the sale must register by Sept. 10.

In the past, bidders attending county tax sales registered on the day of the sale, but recent state legislation is requiring earlier registration and information by a prospective bidder that includes an affidavit that the bidder is not delinquent in paying real estates taxes in other Pennsylvania municipalities and that the bidder has no outstanding local utility bills that are more than one year old.

The affidavit is to include a statement that the individual is not acting as an agent for a person barred from participating in the sale and that in the past three years, the individual has not been cited for uncorrected housing code violations.

The 12-day window between registration and the sale will enable the information to be reviewed by local municipalities, Cardone said.

Prospective bidders must pay a registration fee of $25 per application, per the new delinquent tax law, which goes into effect Aug. 1.

Another new fee approved Thursday by commissioners Bruce Erb, Laura Burke and Amy Webster is $350 for a title search ($200 for mobile homes) that are to be included in the annual Judicial Sale. That requirement also takes effect on Aug. 1.

The county board also approved several increases in present fees to cover rising costs of operations within the Tax Claim Bureau.

For instance, installment plan letters and reminder letters will each cost $4, an increase of 50 cents per document.

Notices of new taxes on a property and warning notices have been increased $5 to $15 per notice.

Additional notices warning of the upcoming Upset Tax Sale will cost $5 per letter, an increase of $1.50.

Also Thursday, commissioners approved a $6.7 million Human Service Block Grant Plan and accepted grants of $30,000 and $100,000 for its Housing Assistance Program and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.

Those grants were conditionally awarded through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.