In its ongoing effort to get tough with delinquent taxpayers, Beaufort County is selling land on which taxes have not been paid for several years.

At its Nov. 4 meeting, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners authorized attorney David Francisco to proceed with the sale of several lots by sealed bids. The bids will be opened at noon Dec. 10 at the county administrative offices, 121 W. Third St., Washington. The board may accept or reject any or all bids at that time. A 5-percent bid deposit must accompany each bid.

“There are total of nine. There really are seven because two of them are double properties, side by side, so I put them together,” Francisco told the board. “This is a little bit different procedure than what we’ve been doing in the past.”

In the past, the county used the upset-bid procedure to sell similar lots.

Under the upset-bid process, after the county receives an initial offer on the property, the county would then publish a notice that within 10 days of the notice being published any person may raise the offer through an upset bid(s) of not less than 10 percent more than the first $1,000 of the offer and 5 percent more than the remainder of the offer. When a qualifying upset bid is made, the bidders shall deposit with the county 5 percent of the amount of the increased bid and the county shall re-advertise the offer in the amount of the increased bid.

That procedure is followed until no additional qualifying bids are received, at which time the county may accept the offer and sell the property to the highest bidder. At any time, the county may reject any and all offers and bids.

Some commissioners questioned the switch from the upset-bid process to the one proposed by Francisco. Bid forms for the seven lots are available at the county administrative offices.

“I though we’d try this and see what it produces,” Francisco told the board.

The board decided that it prefers minimum bids for each lot to be at least equal to the taxes owed on that property. The board also determined that it could use its discretion when comes to possibly accepting a bid that is lower than the taxes owed on the property.

“Why did we change from the upset-bid process?” said Commissioner Ed Booth.

“I just thought we needed to try something else, and since we’re doing this many at a time. Instead of a rifle shot, we’re taking more of a shotgun approach, and then notify the people who are interested in placing bids on this type of property and see what we get back,” Francisco said.

“We instructed attorney Francisco to find an innovative way to get rid of these properties. So, I think he has found an innovative way to get rid of the properties,” Commissioner Hood Richardson said

Several commissioners noted that selling the lots would result in them going back on the county’s tax rolls, thereby producing revenue for the county instead of costing the county money to maintain those lots.

Two of the lots are in Washington Township, two are in Long Acre Township, one is in the City of Washington, one is in Pantego Township and one is in Richland Township.