PRINCESS ANNE — A development that got under way a few years ago during a real estate and construction boom, but never built, is now listed in Somerset County’s tax sale ad that started running this week in local newspapers.

About 50 lots in the Westfield subdivision off Mount Vernon Road will be sold in the June 2 auction if the more than $52,000 in back taxes owned to the county and town aren’t paid beforehand, said Somerset County Treasurer Charles L. Muir.

Property owner Butch Malone annexed the 8-acre property into the town of Princess Anne in 2006 with plans to build duplexes and a few single-family homes on the 51 lots, said Tracey Grangier, the town’s code compliance director.

The final subdivision plat was signed in 2008, and Malone already had stormwater management designs in place, she said.

Somerset County Commissioners recently approved a settlement agreement with Malone for Sanitary District fees billed for another property he owns on Rosa Parks Boulevard because the property was never supplied with water and sewer service.

Without the commissioners’ vote to terminate the billing and release it from a lien, those properties would have been listed in the sale as well.

While the Westfield subdivision is the largest tax sale listing for a single owner, Muir said this year’s list is a big one.

“It’s a few more than last year, and last year was more than ever,” he said.

The majority of the properties in the sale are owned by people struggling to make ends meet in a bad economy, Muir said.

“People just don’t seem to have the money,” he said.

The sale includes properties owing taxes to Somerset County, the town of Princess Anne and city of Crisfield, as well as water and sewer front foot assessments to the Somerset County Sanitary District.

The tax sale list runs for four consecutive weeks in the newspaper and is updated each week as property owners come in to pay off their taxes to avoid being in the sale.

The list will be updated until June 2 at 1 p.m. when the auction starts, Muir said.

Properties that end up in the tax sale are those on which taxes are delinquent for two years or more.

Owners of properties sold at auction have up to six months to pay the past due taxes plus interest and redeem their land before the buyer begins foreclosure proceedings, Muir said.