The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted to reverse a tax sale this past week, and part of the discussion centered on the public notices that are required by the court to be filed in instances such as the government taking property.

If you missed the story, it involved a Fresno County property owner who said he had an agreement to convey 10 acres of land in exchange for the recipient agreeing to pay all the property taxes. The original property owner still owned 33% of the parcel, and took care of the water bills.

The grant deed recipient went on to request the property tax bill be split, with the original owner then responsible for his third of the taxes. Yet that owner didn’t receive the default letters from the Fresno County tax collector, and was shocked to learn a day before auction that his five acres would be sold for non-payment.

The county followed all of its procedures for noticing the tax sale, including publishing it in The Business Journal three times. Fresno County Supervisor and property owner Brian Pacheco remarked that he wouldn’t have seen the notice in the newspaper if he were in the same situation.

That’s a fair point. While much of the Fresno business community is familiar with our publication, and many read it religiously for public notices and leads information in addition to news, not everyone would know where to find our public notice information.

I may be biased in saying the cost of a Business Journal subscription is well-worth the price. But the truth is you don’t need a subscription to read our public notices. They are available to view online on our website. We do that to help disseminate information that is deemed by the court as necessary to publicize.

In this instance with the tax sale that was ultimately reversed by the supervisors, the notice was published three times and obviously missed the most important person it was intended to reach. The supervisors offered the property owner some friendly advice that is also good for anyone responsible for a tax bill: keep an eye on it. Don’t assume it’s being taken care of. And if you own property that you haven’t seen a tax bill for in a while, pop on over to thebusinessjournal.com and put the APN number into the search bar. 

It could save a big headache down the road.

The Business Journal has been publishing real estate records from its founding in 1886. Since 1911, we have been adjudicated a newspaper of general circulation by the court, meaning we can publish notices including trustee sales, probates, summons, fictitious name statements and more. It’s a job that we take seriously, and we will be sure to continue highlighting this service in the future.