JEFFERSON COUNTY, IL — Treasurer Bob Watt has announced that beginning with the 2020 Mobile Home tax bills the current practice of placing liens on mobile homes for unpaid taxes and penalties will be discontinued, and the unpaid taxes and penalties will be sent to the annual tax auction. Each year about ten percent of mobile home tax bills are left unpaid amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes and late payment penalties. When these taxes remain delinquent several months after the original due date the County files a Lien on the Mobile Home for the amount of the taxes plus late payment penalties. When a lien remains unpaid after 10 years the lien is released leaving the taxes and penalties uncollected. This procedure is coming to an end.

Jefferson County will be joining more than 50 other Illinois counties that have already made this change. Illinois statute allows for unpaid real estate or mobile home taxes and penalties to be taken to the annual tax auction. After taxes and penalties have been sold at the tax auction and left un-redeemed for three consecutive years the tax sale buyer will be allowed to file for a tax deed to gain ownership of the property or mobile home. Taxes and penalties that are not bought by a tax sale buyer will go to the County Trustee and will be sold at a Sealed Bid Auction.

The first year of the mobile home tax sale will include the most recent ten years of unpaid mobile home taxes and penalties. This will include all outstanding mobile home tax liens on file for the tax years 2010 through 2019 in addition to any unpaid 2020 mobile home taxes and penalties at the time of the sale. Mobile home tax bills for 2020 are expected to be billed in September. The date of the next tax auction is undetermined at this time, but it will most likely occur in December, 2020 or January, 2021.

The 2020 mobile home tax bills will include a notice reminding owners that any unpaid taxes and penalties will be taken to the annual tax sale auction. We encourage anyone who owns a mobile home to check their records to make sure there are no outstanding taxes due in order to avoid the risk of forfeiting ownership of their mobile home. Mobile home owners wishing to catch up on delinquent taxes should contact the Jefferson County Treasurer’s office at 618-244-8010 to confirm the exact amount of taxes and penalties due, and to receive instructions as to how delinquent taxes, penalties, and liens must be paid.