Westmoreland County is moving its annual tax sale off site.
Commissioners on Thursday approved relocating the sale to the auditorium in Science Hall on the campus of Westmoreland County Community College, a move officials said is needed to account for social distancing required in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The sale of tax delinquent properties is scheduled for Sept. 14.
In past years, the sale was conducted in a courthouse meeting room, but county leaders said that space is not big enough to accommodate the large crowd of prospective buyers and meet requirements that people remain 6 feet apart to prevent spread of the virus.
“Each year, that room gets full of people,” said Tim Andrews, solicitor for the county’s tax bureau.
About 150 bidders attended last year’s auction at the courthouse, when more than 600 properties were up for sale. The county earned a little more than $1 million on 128 properties sold for back taxes last year.
Properties where taxes have gone unpaid for two years through 2018 are eligible for the sale.
Andrews said the list of properties on the auction-block this year was printed last week and will be made public as early as next week.
