Gloucester Township sold more than $1.7 million in tax and utility debt to investors during an acclerated tax sale held at the Municipal Building on Tuesday, according to Tax Collector Sandra Ferguson.
In addition to property-tax debt, unpaid sewer bills were sold to investors at the auction-style tax sale.
Of the 4,774 delinquent properties on the rolls at the mid-November beginning of the tax-sale notice mailing period, 1,126 remained at the start of Tuesday's tax sale.
About 3,500 property owners were delinquent as of Nov. 19.
Of the 1,126 delinquent properties at the start of Tuesday's tax sale, investors purchased 1,033 liens, totaling $1,763,763.40, Ferguson said.
Of the 93 liens not purchased during the tax sale, 87 were municipal liens and six were for unpaid Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA) or Gloucester Township MUA sewer bills.
The township collected $863,000 in premiums Tuesday, according to Ferguson.
The properties to be included in the tax sale were printed in the Courier-Post on Nov. 27 and Dec. 4, at a total cost of $21,708.75. The township also mailed out two rounds of notices to owners of delinquent properties.
Eleven bidders were present for the tax sale.
Municipalities use accelerated tax sales to achieve higher tax-collection rates. Liens can be sold for properties with tax debt from the budget year during which the accelerated sale is held, allowing municipalities to allocate less money in anticipation of uncollected taxes for the following year's budget.
Investors bid on tax debt at auction-style tax sales, paying off the money owed to municipalities while charging interest of up to 18 percent on top of the original tax bill owed by the delinquent taxpayer.
Gloucester Township's collection rate has been near 100 percent since the move to the accelerated tax sale in the late 1990s, Business Administrator Tom Cardis said.
The 2012 collection rate is yet to be determined.
Money Money Money Money..............Money TAX and SPEND It's their party motto.
It's just like when Christie ran for office crucifying Corzine for even considering ending the homestead rebate claiming that the homestead rebate was a refund of over taxed dollars people over paid and they were entitled to their refunds. Then Christie wins and what is his first executive order? Ending the Homestead rebate...Hypocrite. I remember you Ray Polidoro as Christies pawn telling all of us how Corzine was wrong to even suggest ending the refund that people where entitled to their money then when Christie was elected you immediately flip flopped like a good little pawn and started to say people where not entitled to the refunds because the state could not afford to give them a refund. So what is it, was Christie wrong for ending the refund, or was Corzine right to say we needed to? Now you want to blame the municipality for charging the minimum the state requires for a tax sale. Why do you continue to blame the municipality when they are state fees? People see this Republican Party for exactly what it is: a money grab for the rich at the expense of our middle class. Republicans lost 3 to 1 in the local elections.