The number of properties offered “for sale” for the cost of taxes topped that of last year on Monday at the Warren County Courthouse, and it was the second rise in two years.

Warren County Tax Collector Antonia Flaggs Jones said 1,799 residential and commercial parcels of all sizes were available at the annual offering, surpassing last year’s estimated 1,600. The majority of the properties are residential, though this year’s list included popular hotels, restaurants, apartment complexes and retail outlets.

Public sales are a function of state enforcement of 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.

One company, Memphis-based Tax Sale Management Group and its subsidiaries, bid on an array of properties: Super 8 Motel ($16,221.39), A L Tanner Jewelers and Gifts ($14,738.55), both on Pemberton Square Boulevard; the former Eli’s Tree House restaurant on Cherry Street ($4,792.05); Azalea Trace Apartments off Fisher Ferry Road (2 parcels, totaling $22,273.96); LD’s Kitchen No. 2, on Halls Ferry Road ($4,893.22); the Old Feld Home on Cherry Street ($3,958.46) and the old Kuhn Memorial State Hospital on Martin Luther King Boulevard ($1,263.69).

Tax sale lists in recent years have been heavy because of the lagging economy, as investors had more small residential parcels to consider. 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 monthly until July 1. If unpaid by then, taxes are deemed delinquent and advertised twice for the all-day sale, which attracts investors from far and wide who send representatives to multiple counties across the state to bid on property.

“The problem we sometimes run into is we’re spending more time checking these,” said Fred White, a field representative for Tax Sale Management Group. Some properties turn up demolished through municipal code and other issues, White said.

Some other properties receiving bids on 2009 taxes were:

• Battlefield Inn ($23,537.39), Mid South Lumber & Supply ($17,625.33), W.H. Jefferson Funeral Home ($9,976.31) and a downtown parcel at 1418 Washington St. beside the former Ware House entertainment complex ($2,696.96), all by Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based HMTR I LLC.

• The old U.S. Post Office on Crawford Street, owned by Delta Court LLC. Midwest Management/U.S. Bank bid on Delta Court’s outstanding 2009 taxes equaling $13,464.95.

• LD’s Kitchen on Mulberry Street. Long Land Investments Inc. bid on the eatery’s outstanding 2009 taxes totaling $1,720.56.

If properties are not bid on at auctions, properties eventually become assets of the State of Mississippi.