By Bonnie Culverhouse

Dealing with adjudicated property can mean extra time and money for a governmental entity. That’s why hiring an outside agency to do the footwork could be a good idea.

The legal description of adjudicated property is that which tax sale title is acquired by a political subdivision …

So, what is a political subdivision? It is a parish, municipality and any other unit of local government, including a school board and a special district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions.

“This is a complicated subject and a common problem,” Minden Mayor Nick Cox pointed out during a council workshop April 2. 

Wesley E. Johnson with E&P Consulting Services LLC of Monroe addressed the City Council on the subject of adjudicated property.

“Until the overhaul of the state law in about 2010, there was no process for the property to go back up for tax sale,” Johnson told the council members. “Once it was adjudicated to the political subdivision, it was just on this list – never to be taxed again.”

The tax debtor redeems the property by paying the back taxes. However, according to Johnson, that doesn’t always happen, and the list continues to grow, bringing a hardship to governmental entities that have libraries, properties and roads to fund.

“There would be a problem if the debtor ever decided they wanted to sell that property,” she said. “But otherwise it’s just sitting there. That’s where you are seeing your blight and abandonment.”

According to Webster Parish Assessor Denise Edwards, there are 63 adjudicated properties inside Minden city limits.

“Some of those the City of Minden is responsible for and some are the responsibility of the Webster Parish Police Jury,” Edwards said.

The redeemer actually still owns the property, however, the City or Parish must maintain it or see that it’s sold.

Johnson is an attorney that works for E&P where she researches adjudicated property to try and clear the title, so it can be sold.

“You will have to pass an ordinance that says you are going to have an adjudicated property program,” Johnson told the council. 

The ordinance will specify the program and who will run it – the City of Minden or a third party (possibly E&P). After the ordinance is passed, the City would enter into a cooperative agreement with Johnson and her company, if the City decides to use a third party.

“You would not pay me anything directly,” Johnson pointed out. “My name will not be on the ordinance anywhere. The interested purchaser of the property is who comes to us, pays us for a fee for research – like who needs to receive notice, send the notice and do all the bits and pieces from start to finish.”

Johnson said the notices are worded by the statute, and often that alerts the property owner and they will redeem the property.

“If that happens, our fee is $1,000,” she said. “It’s placed on the tax bill. We don’t put it on the tax bill until we’ve actually been hired to do the work, we’ve done the work, we’ve sent the notices. If they redeem it, that kills the sale … I can’t sell it to a third person. That means the notices did their job.”

Research includes finding heirs and an heirship educational program.

The City will have a button on a website where Johnson said the City will see, in some cases, redemptions happening before notices are even sent.

Cox said he will be placing the cooperative endeavor agreement on the May 6 council agenda.