Article from the South Idaho Press

Auction revenue pleases county officials
BY RENEE WELLS
South Idaho Press

Cassia County Commissioners were pleased with the funds generated by the public auction of a number of tax-lien properties.

The auction, conducted by US Auction, was held at the courthouse and attended by about 40 interested buyers, said County Administrator Kerry McMurray.

The county brought in $37,475 from the sale of seven parcels, three of which had multiple lots. They were all sold to satisfy tax liens on the respective properties. Three were in the Burley area, three in the Malta-Strevell area and one in Oakley.

 “We did pretty well on the sale,” said County Attorney Al Barrus.

Commission chairman Dennis Crane said bringing in professionals was worthwhile.

“This is the first time we’ve ever turned our land auction over to a professional auction service,” Crane said. “They were able to get the advertisements out and notify adjacent landowners and we had a real good turnout of interested buyers.”

Crane said the results led commissioners to consider visiting with Minidoka County Commissioners about the possibility of holding combined land auctions, or possibly even combing everything and including all the unclaimed and seized personal property items the counties end up with each year.