Investors had a longer list of parcels up for “sale” on which to bid for Monday’s tax sale compared to last year.

Warren County Tax Collector Antonia Flaggs Jones said about 1,600 residential and commercial parcels of all sizes received bids in the chancery courtroom, surpassing last year’s 1,397.

The public sales are the way the state enforces property taxes due. Bidders pay what an owner owes, then the owner may, by law, “redeem” the deed by paying the taxes plus a penalty that the bidder keeps. While most tax sale purchasers are seeking to profit when owners pay up, the process can lead to a tax deed if the property is not redeemed in three years.

Jones estimated about 60 owners paid up last week for a total of 120 since the list of amounts owed were first printed.

“We really hadn’t gotten the amount we expected, but they were coming in,” Jones said, adding the lagging economy as a possible reason for more property on the tax sale this year.

After tax bills arrive at homes and businesses each December, taxes can be paid without penalty for more than a month before interest is added until July 1.

If unpaid by then, taxes are deemed delinquent and advertised twice for the all-day sale, which in some counties can begin late and last past the closing of business. Jones’ staff wrapped up by 4 p.m.

A number of notable buildings were on investors’ list this year, with some of them nearing a transfer of ownership if taxes aren’t paid.

Downtown buildings at 707, 709, 711 and 713 Clay St. that collapsed in January 2006 received a bid from Prisock Properties in Lauderdale County on its current $1,439.58 tax liability. Taxes owed cover 2008 and 2007, Jones said. In August, ownership of the property was transferred to Downtown Vicksburg Investments LLC, headed by a Jackson law firm.

Prisock also bid successfully on one of six parcels owned by Lakes Gaming Mississippi LLC in south Vicksburg near sites planned for a casino development not yet permitted by state regulators. Two years remain before a transfer.

Another unfinished casino site, Mississippi Bluffs Development LLC, received multiple bids. Twelve parcels in the unrealized casino-and-golf complex off Warrenton Road have unpaid tax for 2008 ranging from $91.72 to $22,746.96.

Some other commercial properties receiving bids included:

• The old U.S. Post Office on Crawford Street, owned by Delta Court LLC. Meridian-based SKL Investments bid on Delta Court’s outstanding 2008 taxes equaling $18,043.13.

• The former Tree House restaurant. Omaha, Neb.-based investment brokerage firm Adair Asset Management LLC bid on the former Cherry Street restaurant’s $4,792.05 property tax debt for 2008. Tax issues will not stand in the way of a pending transfer of ownership and current redevelopment under way at the property, according to real estate brokers handling its transition.

• The South Frontage Road strip mall property near Medical Associates of Vicksburg. U.S. Bank Custodian bid on tax debt equaling $46,619.84 for 2008. The retail center had been part of Winn-Dixie’s bankruptcy reorganization in 2005-06 that closed the Vicksburg Sack-N-Save.

• Annabelle Bed & Breakfast, 501 Speed St. Ridgeland-based Green Spring Properties bid on the tour home’s unpaid $4,051.34 taxes for 2008.

• A vacant strip of land on Harrison Street listed by county tax records as owned by former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Horn. DeKalb, Miss.-based West Kemper Farms Inc. bid on the vacant lot at 1305 Harrison, near First North Street.

• Specialty Elastomer Recovery Inc. located in the same site as the former Rouse Polymerics, received a bid from SKL for its 2007 and 2008 taxes equaling $12,011.33.

If properties receive no bids at auction, properties eventually become assets of the State of Mississippi.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com