Back

News

News

Washington County

Posted: May 19, 2020 1:15 PMUpdated: May 19, 2020 1:21 PM

Washington County 2020 June Resale Postponed

Share on RSS

 

Garrett Giles

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 June Resale in Washington County has been postponed.

County Treasurer Melissa Thornbrugh requested that the sale be postponed to the second Monday in August, and that request was approved by the Washington County Commissioners. With the amount of people (i.e. employees, bidders and security detail) it takes to pull off a resale, Thornbrugh said treasurers across the State of Oklahoma thought it would be best to postpone the sales to promote safety. She said her concern with having the sale on Monday, June 8th is the safety of her staff and the 40 to 50 people who usually participate in the sale.

Washington County has 79 properties listed on the resale to be sold. Thornbrugh said they will not add any more properties to the 2020 Resale. She said the current properties have four years of delinquent taxes on them. The property owners will have a chance between now and Monday, August 10th to pay off their property so it won't be sold.

House Bill 2740 was signed into law by Governor Kevin Stitt on Monday evening. Thornbrugh said the bill's passage gave each treasure in Oklahoma's 77 counties the option to postpone their 2020 June Resale. She said it gave them the option to postpone the sale up to a year.

Some counties like Osage County is waiting to hold their 2020 June Resale with their 2021 June Resale. Treasurer Thornbrugh in Washington County said they decided to postpone the County's 2020 Resale to August instead because it seemed easier to do that than to wait a full year. She said the bidding process could take several more hours if properties are clumped together in one large quantity.

The Washington County Treasurer's Office will continue to monitor the situation from now until mid-June. Thornbrugh said they will then determine if they need to find a bigger location for the 2020 Resale. She said they may hold the sale outside, which has never happened before; this is truly a year of firsts.

The Treasurer's Office is in the process of sending out notification letters at this time. Thornbrugh said these letters are going to the 79 property owners. Starting in June, Thornbrugh said they will start their resale process over again. She said they sent out certified letters back in April, but some of those letters were returned and marked “COVID-19.” An attempt to resend those letters will be made in the hope of getting a better response.

Postponement notices will be published this week. Thornbrugh said that will be published once a week for four consecutive weeks. She said the Washington County Treasurer's Office is going to do everything in their power to notify the public about the changes that are being made with the 2020 Resale.

To find a list of the 79 properties, visit countycourthouse.org. If you have any questions, you can call 918.337.2810. Access to the Treasurer's Office is still limited at this time due to COVID-19, but they are still looking to help you during this uncertain time.


« Back to News