MORGANTOWN — If you have delinquent real estate taxes you likely don’t have as much time as you think to remedy the situation.
Monongalia County Tax Deputy Kelly Palmer recently presented the county’s 2021 delinquent tax list, which indicates about 5% of the county’s taxes remain uncollected. That includes $2,164,250.41 in personal property and $3,232,999.25 in real estate taxes.
In terms of real estate taxes, Palmer explained, the passage of Senate Bill 552 changed the process through which that money is collected, beginning today (June 12).
Under the old system, delinquent real estate taxes for 2021 would have resulted in a lien being sold against the property on the courthouse square in November. From that point, the property owner would have until March 2024 to get caught up and redeem the property.
Not anymore.
“Now, on Nov. 1, all of those properties get certified to the state auditor and they will have to redeem their property and pay their taxes to the auditor’s office. They will collect it,” Palmer said. “If they don’t pay their taxes at the auditor’s office, then sometime between March and June, the auditor’s office will sell the property.”
Once the property is sold, there will be a 60-day window for the owner to get caught up or it goes to the purchaser.
“I caution the public who are used to the process of delinquent taxes, it will be much different for them this year. They won’t have the 18 months to redeem. It’s more like eight months,” she said.
Either way, the county will eventually collect all of the outstanding real estate taxes. Palmer said the county typically collects all but about 1% of the personal property taxes.
“These aren’t write-offs. These are taxes that will be collected,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said, noting the total amount of delinquent taxes has decreased each of the last four years.
Numbers for 2017 ($8,301,320.07) and 2018 ($6,568,434.24) were artificially inflated by outstanding taxes on the university’s public/private ventures, which were later taken off the books.
About 5.5% of the county’s taxes were delinquent in 2019 ($5,593,369.13). That number dropped to $5,400,649.98 in 2020, or 5.06%.
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