Wyandotte’s online tax auction may be hurting residents without internet. Here’s why
For some Wyandotte County residents, the area’s online auctions of property with delinquent taxes, otherwise known as virtual tax sales, have become an unwelcome tradition.
The most recent sale was held online through a third party platform on March 28. Homes at least three years behind on taxes were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Commercial properties delinquent on taxes for at least two years and vacant lots delinquent for at least one year were also tax sale eligible.
Critics say that holding the auction virtually instead of in person has hurt access for both elderly constituents and those with poor internet.
Activists working with Groundwork NRG, a nonprofit supporting the Northeast neighborhoods of Kansas City, Kansas, allege the sale allows the Unified Government to “steal homes of KCK residents who are behind on their taxes.” They spent the last month raising money to support 25 families whose homes were put up for auction and were at risk of being homeless.
The sale has been held online exclusively since 2020 due to the pandemic.
By the winter of 2021, Wyandotte County commissioners voted to postpone two tax sales scheduled during the winter season, for fear that too many residents would be left without a permanent residence as temperatures dropped.
“We are not insensitive to the plight of certain of our population, who have felt, for a variety of reasons, that they need additional help or time to get current with their taxes or they need information and assistance in where to go and what to do,” said District 1 Commissioner Gayle E. Townsend, who spoke to The Star in a prior report.
However, the Unified Government does not believe holding the tax sale online inhibits access to the elderly or residents without internet connectivity, according to Ashley Hand, a spokeswoman for the municipality.
“We provide means for them to get online and participate,” she said in an emailed statement.
Since the auction was moved online at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. David Haley has worried about families unknowingly having their properties put up for auction or being unable to advocate for themselves during the tax sale.
The majority of properties listed for the March 28 auction were in Northeast areas of the county, which, he said, are areas with residents more likely to struggle with finding access to a computer.
“They have no one to appeal to during COVID and beyond,” he said.
Is it a ‘public auction’?
Before the pandemic, Wyandotte County’s tax sale was traditionally held at a public place, either in Memorial Hall, city hall or the courthouse steps. But COVID-19 changed everything, according to Sen. Haley.
“It was a gathering place where people can physically approach the table or look at the overhead screen to see who is going to be depriving them of their property,” he said.
Starting in 2020, the tax auction was moved online with the help of a third party platform.
The move came as the municipality grappled with staff work from home policies and finding new methods to keep government meetings accessible to the public, without the risk of spreading the virus to constituents.
As vaccination rates increased and public gatherings resumed, the auction remained online.
“[The UG] allege that it’s more efficient, that they are able to get higher bids. And all around, it’s just less expensive than holding a public auction,” Haley said.
In Jan. 2022 legislation introduced to the Kansas Senate, Haley called for foreclosure tax sales to be held in person, at a physical location within the county, as its done across state lines in Jackson County.
He contended that the current auction was not “public” since residents do not have the opportunity to “interact in person to listen, to view and observe the bidding.”
The bill died in committee on May 23, but Haley says constituents behind on their taxes have continued to complain of receiving letters indicating their property would be sold at the next month’s tax sale. But by that point, it’s often too late to get resources together or seek help from an authority figure or elected official.
“These longtime residents, unbeknownst to them and unable to appeal the Unified Government decision, had nowhere else to go, within days of the online sale,” Haley said.
‘Traumatizing our community’
While the Unified Government did not immediately respond to requests for data on the tax sale, spokeswoman Ashley Hand said the number of vacant lots being sold has increased due to the online auction.
Eight Chromebooks were set up at Memorial Hall for people to use on March 28. Public libraries also became “access points” for residents without internet connectivity in their home, which Hand said, has been promoted on the Unified Government’s website, social media and through neighborhood organizations.
Payment plans are also available to residents delinquent on their property taxes, in an effort to help them keep their property, Hand said.
She referred to the third party vendor as very helpful when dealing with bidders and answering questions. The support positively impacts property owners participating in the sale, she said, as they are able to have more time with Unified Government staff, who may provide support.
But local activists say more support is needed.
Adrianne Showalter Matlock, operations director of Groundwork NRG, found herself hustling to help tax sale property owners, who had little clue where to turn for help ahead of the March auction.
In an email she referred to the government’s actions surrounding the auction as a “cruelty that’s traumatizing our community,” and within a week of the auction, she continued to raise money with Groundwork NRG for a man who did not qualify for the Kansas Housing Assistance Fund and could not pay off his property taxes.
The man’s water and electricity had been shut off. He also did not have a phone, according to Matlock.
He became one of the residents Matlock and her team reached as a result of knocking on Northeast neighborhood doors and spreading word of the sale in person alongside WyCo Mutual Aid, a Wyandotte County activist group.
Despite multiple attempts, the man receiving assistance and others struggling ahead of the tax sale were not available to speak with The Star.
The next Wyandotte County tax sale is scheduled for August.
