BAY MINETTE — About 4,500 Baldwin County parcels representing about $4.4 million in delinquent taxes will go to the auction block Tuesday unless taxes are paid by 4:30 p.m. Monday, according to Karen Jones, administrator of collections for the Baldwin County Revenue Department.

Payment must be made in cash or by money orders or cashier’s check. Personal checks will not be accepted.

Jones said property owners who miss the deadline should call the revenue department at (251) 937-0245.

Gulf Coast Newspapers last month published the legal description and names of owners who owe taxes. The listing is available online by going to co.baldwin.al.us, clicking on Revenue Commission and following the prompts.

Meanwhile, Jones said she has received “many calls” from speculators planning to attend the tax sale Tuesday which begins at 10 a.m. at the Baldwin County Revenue Commission office on U.S. 31 in Bay Minette.

“We are getting a good many calls from speculators,” Jones said Tuesday. “There are many people new about it and are asking how it works and how long owners have to redeem their parcels.

“The experienced ones are checking the time and location of the sale.”

Speculators utilize a state law which allows investors to overbid up to 15 percent of the fair market value of a parcel and to reap a 12 percent interest rate until properties are redeemed.

Last year, speculators brought a sea of cashiers’ checks to the tax sale of 2,588 properties with $3.2 million in outstanding taxes.

By the conclusion of the four-day sale, $39 million was collected in overbids from investors.

The county’s roughly 150,000 taxable parcels represent $6.6 billion, while the net assessed value is $4.3 billion. In the last tax cycle, taxable parcels totaled $6.86 billion and net assessed value was $4.51 billion. In 2006, values were $4.051 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively.