Clarion tax claim director calls judicial sale a success

Monday was a good day for Clarion County as the bi-annual judicial tax sale more than met expectations.

“I think it went really well…it may have been the best one we have ever had,” said Megan Kerr, the county’s Tax Claim Bureau director. “I was pleased with the number of bidders. Some didn’t show up because the owner of one of the parcels came in and paid in full.”

Kerr had initially registered 71 bidders but said only about 50 showed up for the sale. There were 28 properties exposed for sale. The sale was held in the first floor hallway at the courthouse.

The “shortway property” at the Strattanville interchange on Interstate 80 drew the most intense bidding before finally going at $130,000.

“I knew there would be interest in that property,” said Kerr. “I thought there would be interest in 16 properties and we sold 13 of them.”

Kerr said most of the buyers were local, but there buyers from Virginia and New York as well, she added.

The money raised by the sale will be used to satisfy back taxes.

“The county doesn’t really make any money on this sale,” Kerr said.

Anything that doesn’t sell goes into a repository.

“They basically sit there and collect dust until someone shows interest,” Kerr said. She added that a lot of mineral rights are in the repository and urged anyone who doesn’t own the mineral rights to obtain them.

The final report of the sale will be sent to the judge’s office and county commissioners for review.