We sold some property that wasn't there.
Marion County Mayor David Jackson, then mayor of Kimball, Tenn., speaks during a meeting in August 2015.JASPER, Tenn. - When one Marion County resident sent a surveyor to examine the property he purchased in a 2011 county tax sale, that surveyor discovered the land didn't exist.
County Mayor David Jackson said the buyer understandably asked for a refund.
"We sold some property that wasn't there," he said.
At its March meeting, the Marion County Commission voted unanimously to refund the purchase price of $1,000 plus $186.99 for the taxes paid on the supposed property between 2010 and 2013.
County Attorney Billy Gouger said property taxes had not been assessed since 2013 because the owner proved to the county tax assessor's office through the surveyor's findings that the land wasn't real.
"Those who have been on the commission for a number of years will remember this has happened sometimes in the past," he said. "It's been the county commission's past practice to honor the request and refund it."
State law does not require the reimbursement, though.
"When these parties buy these types of property at a tax sale or some other sale like this, they buy at their own risk," Gouger said.
In the past, he said, the board has dealt with the problem from a "fairness and equitable standpoint."
"It's not fair to take someone's money when you didn't have anything to sell," Gouger said.
A few years ago, Marion sold property at a delinquent tax sale that was actually in nearby Grundy County.
Longtime Commissioner Donald Blansett said he has seen situations like that several times during his tenure.
"We usually sell it in another county," he said jokingly. "We're getting better. We're selling land and there's nothing there."
Gouger said assessments are made for tax purposes on tax maps, and the records that are completed in the county assessor's office are "not guarantees that property actually exists."
The small piece of fictional property that was refunded this time is in an area surrounded by land owned by mineral and coal companies.
"I'd say over time it was either swallowed up, or it may never have existed to begin with," Gouger said. "That's probably why the person who stopped paying taxes on it, stopped paying taxes. They realized it was owned by somebody else."
Marion doesn't have the benefit of detailed information like surveying data or defined property lines going into a sale.
"The law requires us to purge it from the records, and the only way you can do that is to sell it," Gouger said.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.