El Paso County reconsidering how to handle land donations

El Paso County is in charge of hundreds if not thousands of small plots of land across the region, either donated by owners or foreclosed on because of taxes. But is it worth it to be involved at all?

The county routinely gets offered donations of plots of land that owners don’t want to deal with anymore, and probably can’t sell. That’s why commissioners like Andrew Haggerty want to look into what can be done instead.

“If we take this land, what can we do with them?” Haggerty said. “If we don’t take them and they get foreclosed on, are we spending more money doing a sheriff’s tax sale to get rid of them for nonpayment of taxes?”
For example, county leaders are currently considering what to do with about 20 plots of land spread around the Horizon City area in far east El Paso County, all offered as donations. These are areas that aren’t developed or paved, and may not even have dirt roads leading to them. They’re difficult to deal with, and finding solutions is complicated.

“We’re going to be assessing those properties to see if there is value for us accepting them in donations,” said Besty Keller, county chief administrator, “and possibly trying to turn them back over, sell them to a member of the public or to a private corporation so that they can become back active on the tax rolls and being paid for.”

Haggerty thinks this may not be a case of finding a particularly good solution, but rather what can actually work best for the county and taxpayers.

“There is a cost,” Haggerty said. “There’s a cost of doing the foreclosure. Of even just doing the advertising for the foreclosure. And does it make sense to say no, I’m not going to accept this land for free, but I’m going to turn around and spend time, energy and money to foreclose on it.”

Haggerty said the county is working with legal experts on land ownership and that he hopes to start having some guidelines developed next month.