When a person doesn't pay taxes, a lien is posted on the property and theoretically the taxing authority will receive the owed taxes when the parcel is sold at a tax sale.

Reality doesn't always mirror theory.When there are no bidders on a tax sale property, a judicial sale occurs.Any property that remains unsold after the upset sale and the judicial tax sale then appears on a repository list.Last week, Panther Valley School Board agreed to the sale of 13 properties by the Carbon County Tax Claim Bureau that are on the repository list, many of them for only a little more than $800.Attorney Robert Yurchak, solicitor for Panther Valley, said the district has already lost about $80,000 in taxes on these parcels.One reason is that it could take several years from the time the property is listed for sheriff's sale until it is sold on the repository list.Most glaring on the list is the former Panther Valley Middle School building along Patterson Street (Route 209) in Lansford.It was owned by the former Lansford School District, and then became part of the Panther Valley School District when a merger of the former Lansford, Summit Hill, Coaldale and Nesquehoning School districts occurred in 1964.The building, built in 1916, is owned by Adam Webber, address unknown, who purchased it for $150 in 2009.By 2013, he was behind on taxes by $166,937.83 and was facing borough code violations.Besides not paying the taxes, school district officials said Webber has stripped the building of all radiators and virtually anything else made of copper and iron. He also sold a piece of the property to the Lansford Fire Department for $15,000.The board reluctantly approved the sale of the property to MGD National Investment Group, c/o Mark Edgar, for $836.Edgar lists an address of Viewtop Road, Palmerton. There is no telephone listing for that address. He has purchased numerous items through repository sales.In fact, he is the bidder on another Lansford property as an individual. He was approved for the purchase of a property owned by Thomas Sokol at a price of $1,502.The Panther Valley School Board said it does not know what Edgar's intentions are with the property.Board President Jeff Markovich asked about the tax rate on the building. Yurchak said it will not be changed unless the new owner files an appeal with the tax claim bureau.Yurchak also stated, "Realistically, it's a white elephant right not."The solicitor recommended a "yes" vote by the board on the sale, saying, "You're not getting anything out of it right now." He added that the new owners could potentially do something positive with the property.Board member Bill Hunsicker agreed, saying, "The Nesquehoning building (former elementary school) sat vacant for 35 years. Now people are living in the building."It was converted into an apartment building.