“This is a big win for the community,” Greene County Auditor Kraig Hagler said. “When we started collaborating with the City of Xenia on this effort years ago, the goal was to get neglected properties back into the hands of local residents who would bring them back to life. Now as auditor, witnessing that vision come to life is extremely rewarding.”
More than half of the properties sold were in Xenia, with 18 vacant or abandoned properties sold inside city limits. The city said it is “celebrating a major step forward in neighborhood revitalization” after this sale.
The auditor sale, the first in the county for many years, is part of a years-long effort to collect on or foreclose on nearly $1.5 million in back taxes in the county, the Dayton Daily News previously reported.
Greene County has historically had a lower tax delinquency rate than the rest of the state of Ohio, Hagler previously told the Dayton Daily News. The renewed focus on foreclosure cases in the last few years is due in part to catching up to delays caused by the pandemic and clearing up a preceding decades-long backlog.
The city of Fairborn, which has the second-highest crop of delinquent property taxes behind Xenia, also forged an agreement with the county to expedite the processing of foreclosed-on homes in June. Fairborn and Xenia have the highest rate of back taxes among communities in the county partially because they are the oldest cities.
“Returning these properties to responsible owners will encourage neighborhood stability and attract future investment. These results fit with the City’s ongoing redevelopment goals and its efforts to support strong and vibrant neighborhoods,” Xenia officials said.
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