Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts Maria T. Casey and county officials are at odds over a recent judicial sale.

Casey, speaking at a commissioners meeting, called the sale “botched.”

A county solicitor and a lawyer representing the firm that handled the sale disagreed.

The sale, which was Monday, listed only 28 properties.

Casey blamed Elite Revenue Solutions Inc., the firm hired by the county in December 2021 to handle the sale.

“Three hundred properties were listed for the sale,” as published twice in a local newspaper, she said.

“They’re not going forward on Monday. Only 28 properties are.”

She said taxpayers paid for the ads, and $150 per sale to Elite.

She attended an Aug. 15 hearing before county court Judge Christina E. Hale.

At the hearing, Casey said she told the judge that “service was not properly made on all these parcels.”

She said certain documents that inform lien holders and property owners of the sale had not been included in the sale packets, so they “sat in the sheriff’s office for well over a week.”

Casey raised her concerns about the sale at a commissioners meeting on July 27. Then, Assistant County Solicitor/Risk Manager Glenn T. Roth Jr. gave a timeline of the judicial sale that showed little delay.

He said the Tax Claim Bureau was given court approval for the judicial sale on July 18, and was already working on another judicial sale for later this year.

“There are always mistakes that are made due to the sheer volume of properties,” he said.

Attorney Samuel A Falcone Jr. released a statement on behalf of Elite, saying the remaining properties would be placed on the judicial sale list for the Oct. 24 sale. Registered bidders will be allowed to bid at the continued sale, and won’t have to pay any additional registration fees.

Falcone said his firm complies with the state’s real estate tax sale law, and that at an Aug. 15 hearing, asked for a court order for the sale and that the service was satisfied by being published in local newspapers.

“Due to a last-minute objection made by a registered bidder requesting to inspect the sheriff’s return of service for every single property subject to the sale, the hearing was continued to allow for additional testimony and evidence,” the statement said.

“As such, the Schuylkill County Tax Claim Bureau cannot ensure that any additional parcels will be offered for sale at the Aug. 22, 2022, sale as of the date of this notice as the hearing date and time has yet to be established.”

According to the Tax Claim Bureau on the county website, judicial sales are “free and clear” sales.

“The advantage of this type of sale, from the purchaser’s standpoint, is that the properties are sold free and clear of liens and encumbrances, to the best of our ability.”