Nearly 1,600 properties representing $1.9 million in unpaid taxes, excluding penalties, will go on the auction block Tuesday during the county’s annual delinquent tax sale, according to Revenue Commissioner Phil Nix.

Nix will sound the gavel at 10 a.m. at the Revenue Commission Office to begin the sales process which has drawn numerous investors who are allowed to overbid up to 15 percent of the fair market value of properties to take advantage of a state law which allows 12 percent simple interest.

Since taxes became delinquent Jan 1., Nix said he and his staff have written and called tract owners to alert them. Listings also have been published in Gulf Coast Newspapers.

About 288 of the properties are under new ownership this year, Nix said, and some may have closed on a property using an attorney’s address or an incorrect address, preventing postal receipt of the bills.

“We have now contacted all property owners and we have urged them to come in and pay,” Nix said Tuesday. “We don’t want to call them afterwards and tell them there is an overbid of $40,000 which will cost them hundreds more in interest payments.”

Penalties now include a $10 collection fee, $10 Probate Court fee and $45 per parcel to cover costs of newspaper advertising, Nix said.

The interest on overbids will be added. For example, a 15 percent overbid on a parcel valued at $100,000 would generate $150 a month in interest.

Jefferson County also will hold tax sales Tuesday and may lure some investors from Baldwin County. However, Nix said he has been contacted regularly by tax sale speculators and expects numerous overbids.

Property owners can avoid the tax sale if bills are paid by 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Nix said he saw no geographic or value trends for the delinquent properties but said he noticed a concentration for coastal properties.

“There is no particular trend, but delinquencies are more likely on the coast with condo complexes,” he said. “There may be some delinquencies in property flips with owners holding out and thinking they will pay taxes in closings.”

Nix said another factor may be increasing insurance rates.

“The insurance has mounted,” Nix said. “Maybe they are taking one thing at a time to pay.”

Delinquent property tax notices mailed in February represented about $10 million and 11,800 parcels in Baldwin County, which have gradually dwindled as payments were received. The delinquency was under 10 percent of the record $119 million assessed this year, and collections are up compared to last year's collection cycle, Nix said.

Tax bills showed an increase of 20 percent from last year, prompting about 3,000 Baldwin County land owners to appeal appraisals through the county Board of Equalization. The number of appeals was 300 percent more than last year.

Tax bills for the previous year were $94.079 million for 144,510 parcels, compared to $76 million and 141,908 parcels the year before that.

Current tax bills are based on sales and other factors between Oct. 1, 2004, and Sept. 30, 2005. Payment is available online for an additional processing fee of 2.5 percent of the tax bill.

For information, go to co.baldwin.al.us, click on Revenue Commission and follow the prompts; or call Revenue Commission offices in Bay Minette or satellite courthouses in Fairhope and Foley.