Rogers County Treasurer Cathy Baker said the annual tax certificate sale held by her office each October is no more. Senate Bill 1770 eliminating the one-year certificate sale on property with delinquent taxes was signed by Governor Brad Henry April 24.

The County Officers and Deputies Association of Oklahoma (CODA) lobbied for the change stating that the sale put an undue burden on taxpayers.

“What the county treasurers noticed is that we had out-of-state speculators coming in here buying up these liens,” said Dave Herbert of CODA. “A number of these lien purchasers were running up expenses making it tougher for the landowner to buy back the lien and pay his taxes.”

“The ‘undue burden’ was the process-serving fees that certificate holders could charge for notification of the tax deed application,” said Baker.

Baker said tax amounts and accumulated interest over four years could be very high and make it difficult for delinquent taxpayers.

“My concern is that the burden is going to be greater due to the fact, now, that they won’t be notified for four years versus being notified with just two years of taxes,” said Baker. “It’s a lose-lose situation for the homeowner, actually, but it generated a lot of funds for my school districts in October that they now won’t get until June when we hold the auction for the four-year taxes.”

“According to the information the county treasurers gave me, this only affects about 1 percent of the money collected on ad valorem,” said Herbert.

Baker agreed that figure was accurate but said, “One-percent of millions of tax dollars is a lot.”

The total ad valorem tax dollars due to Rogers County for 2007, according to the Assessor’s tax rolls, is $51,121,623, said Baker.

Currently, Baker’s office is trying to collect over a $2 million outstanding in tax revenues for the current year.

“We are expecting that number to be reduced,” said Baker. “We just sent out delinquent reminders, and then we’ll follow up that with a certified notice in September.”

Baker said with the October sale gone, she doesn’t know how taxpayers will respond to the September notices.