Legislation to simplify purchase of State-owned properties advances

By District 56 Representative Clay Mansell

What’s in the red square?

These are State-owned, tax-forfeited properties—land and buildings whose owners have not paid their taxes and that have been abandoned. The properties are now owned by the State of Mississippi.

This past summer, I had the privilege of co-chairing with Shanda Yates a select legislative committee focused on tackling this very issue. The committee came up with a bill, which is currently working its way through the legislative process. At press time, the legislation has moved out of the committee it was assigned to, Judiciary A. It then passed the House Floor vote. As of the time of this article, it will be waiting for the Senate to take it up. If it passes, it will help communities across our state reclaim and revitalize these properties. This legislation will shorten the process of getting State-owned land back into the hands of taxpayers, which will, in turn, help eliminate blight.

Currently, when someone buys a piece of State-owned property, the person who originally owned it is then given another two years to pay their back taxes before the new owner, who must bring the taxes up to date, can accept the deed. Often, after those two years of waiting, the previously-interested buyer no longer desires to purchases the property, and it continues to sit in a blighted condition.

With the legislation currently being considered, the additional two-year waiting period would be eliminated, allowing for the property deed to transfer to the new owner immediately at the time of purchase.

Our goal is simple: Get these properties off the State’s books and back into the hands of Mississippi citizens—where they can be put to better use, whether as homes, businesses or community assets.

Stay tuned for updates as we work to move Mississippi forward!

You can look up properties on the Secretary Michael Watson website: https://www.sos.ms.gov/public-lands/tax-forfeited-lands.