The annual sale of delinquent taxes brought a good return for Lauderdale County when it was conducted August 31, the Board of Supervisors heard Monday.
Tax Collector Doris Spidle said a total of 4,326 parcels were up for bid in this year’s sale representing a total value of $5,369,910.43. Of those, 4,126 parcels sold at the sale at a total value of $5,317,070.44.
“The grand total collected at the sale was $5,860,775.44,” she said.
Spidle said the overbid, the amount of money bid above what was owed, reached more than $543,000. The overbid grew significantly when the county started holding the tax sale online and continues to grow.
“Since we’ve gone online, it’s almost doubled,” she said.
In addition to the tax sale, Spidle also provided an update on collections from 2025 taxes. The Tax Collector’s office billed a total of $31,841,957.28 in personal property, she said, and has collected a total of $31,064,928.08. Still unpaid is $1,051,288.09.
“Those amounts are turned over to the collection agency, and they do pursue that. We continue to collect that throughout the year but through the agency,” she said.
For mobile home taxes, the county billed $556,445.51 and has collected $555,456.06 from a total of 3,355 receipts as of September 30. Spidle said 1,334 receipts were not collected by the September 30 mark coming out to about $149,672.56.
“Those are also turned over to the collection agency,” she said.
Funds will continue to come in as the collection agency works to settle the outstanding accounts going forward. Spidle said the county has a good relationship with the agency, and it is usually successful in collection on outstanding debts.