Liens on eight Glocester properties sold at tax sale; Town recoups $60,000

August 13, 2024

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GLOCESTER – The town has auctioned off liens on eight Glocester properties in lieu of unpaid taxes, collecting more than $60,000 on residents’ past due accounts.

A tax sale was held at the Kent Field Pavilion on Thursday, August 1 for properties with outstanding payment due to the town on taxes accessed before December 31 of 2022.

The sales, held annually, allow the town to recoup funds lost through ongoing delinquencies, and proponents say the public auctions help to keep potentially blighted properties in productive use. Under the right of redemption, owners have one year to pay off the initial bills, plus interest and fees, or investors can file to foreclose on the lots, according to state law.

Notice of the pending lien sale was published in advance in The Providence Journal, and posted at both Glocester Town Hall and the Harmony Post Office, and debtors were also notified of the pending public auction by mail.

Typically, owners come forward to settle the bills in advance of a sale and get their names removed from the list. Some 24 town properties were listed on the notice originally published in July.

Critics of the tax sale procedure say it can be tough on struggling homeowners, who face additional fees and high interest rates for on their past due bills. Rhode Island Housing can purchase the liens giving qualified owners additional time to catch up under the Madeline Walker Act, a state law passed in 2006. The agency intervened in one such sale at the event this month.

In Glocester, liens on eight lots were sold to the highest bidder. When properties fail to attract an investor and no bids are received, the town itself can purchase the liens under the same provisions, as governed by state law. On August 1, the town purchased the lien for one home. Funds returned to town coffers totaled $60,186.

The below is list of property liens sold at the auction.