The former home of I Brown Bros. on Kings Highway is one of the properties still listed as available in Fairfield’s tax sale this summer.
Photo Credit: Greg Canuel (File)
This Harbor Road home is the highest-valued property still included in the Fairfield sale.
Photo Credit: Town Records
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Are you looking to buy a $5 million Southport home or a stretch of land on Kings Highway at a steep discount? Then mark your calendar for July 26. Fairfield has set that date for its first-ever sale of delinquent taxpayer properties.
Then-Tax Collector Stan Gorzelany announced in March that Fairfield would carry out its first-ever tax sale. State law allows towns to sell properties owing taxes to the town if their owners do not pay their back taxes and fees by the end of June.
“We were looking for a way to bring in more money before June 30,” Gorzelany said at the time. “We thought because of the timing issues we could bring in the money sooner by doing a tax sale.”
When the sale was first announced, the list of properties on the auction block included 32 parcels owned by 17 delinquent taxpayers. Since then, all but seven property owners have settled their debts. As of Monday, 17 properties were still scheduled to be offered at the auction.
If those properties are still not paid off by the auction, the deeds will go up for bid. The minimum price would be the back taxes and fees owed plus a portion of the auction expenses. After the auction, the delinquent taxpayer will have six months to pay the auction winner the bid amount plus monthly interest of 1.5 percent of the winning bid. If they cannot, the winner takes ownership of the property for good.
The most valuable house still on the list is 418 Harbor Road, appraised by the town at nearly $5.3 million. The five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom home lies near the mouth of the Mill River. Its owner, Jonathan James Bailey, owes more than $162,000 in back taxes, according to the tax collector’s records.
Also on the list are seven properties at Jennings Road and Kings Highway, worth more than $4.2 million combined, according to the town assessor’s records. More than $133,000 in back taxes and fees are owed on the seven lots combined.
The group, which includes the former I Brown Bros. building, is owned by Fairfield Redevelopment LLC, according to the town’s records. A search for the company in the secretary of the state’s database turned up no results.
Other spots still on the list include the buildings that house Three Door Restaurant on Brooklawn Avenue and Fairfield Autocare on Tunxis Hill. A pair of neighboring homes on Hulls Highway and strips of vacant land on Old Black Rock Turnpike and Post Road are also listed.
The tax sale will take place July 26 at 2 p.m. at Fairfield Ludlowe High School. For more information, visit the tax collector’s office in Old Town Hall.