By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

Owners of more than 500 properties in Jasper and Newton counties have another week to pay back taxes and keep their real estate off the auction block.

As of midday Friday, 520 properties remained on lists to be offered Monday, Aug. 25, at county tax sales that are designed to recover back taxes owed to taxing entities, such as school districts, the county, cities and other jurisdictions.

Initially, sale listings by the two counties totaled nearly 1,100 parcels, and officials in the county collectors’ offices expect the numbers to be further whittled down before the annual sales. State law requires that the sales be conducted the fourth Monday in August in all Missouri counties, and allows properties to be auctioned after taxes have been delinquent for one year. In Jasper and Newton counties, properties are put on the block after payments have been delinquent for at least two years.

“We started at 516 properties, and we’re down to 392 today (Friday), but people are still paying,” said Steve Holt, Jasper County collector.

In Newton County, the sale list was down to 128 properties, from 575 parcels originally, said Sabra Hively, chief deputy for Jim Otey, county collector.

In both counties, officials said numbers are comparable with those on sale lists of previous years.

“I don’t think that we’re seeing anything yet that reflects a downtown in housing markets, because that’s more recent,” Holt said. “What we’re dealing with here are properties on which taxes haven’t been paid for 2006 and earlier.”

Landowners in Jasper County will have until noon Friday to pay their taxes and avoid the sale. In Newton County, payments will be accepted until the morning of the sale, Hively said.

The Aug. 25 sales will be at 10 a.m. on the third floor of the Jasper County Courthouse in Carthage, and at 10:30 a.m. on the main floor of the Newton County Courthouse in Neosho.

Holt said landowners are notified of back taxes three times a year, then are sent a certified letter in May, before the August sale date.

Under state law, the original owner may reclaim property within one year of the sale by paying the amount of the purchase price, including back taxes and interest, and other costs.