Bradley County tax committee sets minimum bids for delinquent‑tax parcels, refers six to full commission

The Bradley County tax committee voted to set and adjust minimum bids for county‑owned parcels acquired through delinquent tax sales and directed several parcels to the full county commission for final approval.

Staff told the committee the parcels at issue were acquired through the county’s delinquent‑tax sale process and that statute requires the committee to set a minimum bid at or above the county’s recovery amount to recoup costs. “This is where you all set the minimum bid,” a staff member said while explaining the statutory step for the committee.

For the vacant lot identified as Map & Parcel 0580 D 2 on Lakeview Drive, staff listed the county’s recovery amount as $554.45 and an assessor market value of $3,900. Unidentified Speaker 3 moved to set the minimum bid at $2,500; the motion was seconded and approved by the committee.

Committee members debated how aggressive to be in setting opening minimums. One member, identified in the transcript by speaker number, warned that setting a very low minimum could mean bidders pay well under assessed value: “So we could be cutting our our head off,” the member said. Staff responded that the minimum is published in the legal ad and that sealed bids must exceed the published minimum, and that parcels failing to meet the minimum will be returned to the committee.

The committee also considered a cluster of small, adjacent parcels (parcel identifiers beginning 057NA) and voted to set minimums for those lots. For one small parcel the committee set the minimum at the recovery amount ($174.33); for other parcels in that group members proposed and approved higher asking minimums or sales figures after brief discussion.

Staff explained a second set of parcels had been previously advertised and failed to sell. The committee voted to reduce the minimums on six of those previously advertised parcels to $500, $400, $500, $400, $750 and $500 respectively. Because those new minimums fall below the county’s recovery amount for the parcels, staff instructed Chairman Beatty to present those six parcels to the Bradley County Commission for final approval.

Staff estimated the administrative work to process and re‑advertise parcels takes significant office time — preparing ads, deeds and supporting documents — and said the team tries to group parcels to minimize advertising costs. Staff also noted that consolidating adjoining lots into a single larger parcel is possible but would require surveying, plotting and the same public processes required of any landowner.

The committee concluded by directing staff to proceed with the ads and to take the six reduced‑minimum parcels to the full commission for vote. No timeline for the full commission consideration was given in the transcript.

Next steps: staff will place the legal advertisement listing the committee‑approved minimums and Chairman Beatty will bring the six reduced‑minimum parcels to the Bradley County Commission for a final vote.