Commissioners on Sept. 29 were addressed by the wife of a local property owner about Crawford County’s tax redemption process, the legal procedure that allows landowners to reclaim their property after it has been sold due to unpaid property taxes.

Christina Thompson, wife of property owner Derek Thompson, called for the commissioners to change the Crawford County tax redemption policy because she claimed it could potentially financially harm taxpayers.

During the tax redemption process, owners must repay all unpaid taxes, surplus and any additional fees incurred before they may reclaim their property. When Christina Thompson called Collector Pat Schwent’s office on Sept. 18 to redeem two of Derek Thompson’s properties that were sold during the 2026 Crawford County tax sale on Aug. 24, Schwent had already left, and she is the only one in the collector’s office who can do a tax redemption.

After returning Christina Thompson’s call, Schwent learned that the properties were under D. Thompson Properties, LLC, which is solely under Derek Thompson. As Christina Thompson wasn’t under the Limited Liability Company, LLC, Schwent was unable to discuss information with Christina Thompson because it could expose the county to legal action.

Derek Thompson communicated with Schwent and explained he accidentally missed a tax bill and has never had to redeem a property before. He added that there was some confusion since the county’s property tax process differed from other counties that he was used to. For instance, Crawford County is one of a few counties in Missouri that conducts a one-year tax sale.

Schwent then helped schedule a day for Derek Thompson to appear before the commission with the necessary information, like proof of ownership of the properties and payment for the unpaid taxes and additional fees, so the tax redemption process could be completed.

During the meeting, Christina Thompson said that the county’s process costs the residents more in taxes, penalties and fees. Derek Thompson was ready to redeem on Sept. 18, when Christina Thompson first called, but was unable to do it that day and had to wait to go before the commission. During that waiting period, nothing in the policy stops the interest and penalties from increasing before the property has been redeemed.

“This property is cut-off timber ground. It’s not worth very much in assessed value. However, if it would have been a commercial building or some kind of property with a high assessment through the wait period of 10 days or whatever it took us to get in front of you, it could have added up,” Christina Thompson said. “And the statute says we have absolute right to reclaim and redeem our property, and at the moment that we are able to, it says that all taxes, fees and penalties should subside.”

Attorney Brooks Kenagy was present at the meeting to provide some background and insight into the county’s tax redemption process.

“I think Pat brought me into this because I’m the oldest guy in the room and probably was here back when tax sales really weren’t that popular because title companies had everybody believing you couldn’t get good title out of a tax sale,” Kenagy said.

Around 2014, the county started to see a large increase in surplus funds. In 2011, there were $9,448.08 in surplus funds, $0 in 2012 and $12.59 in 2013, but in 2014, it rose to $18,761.24 and was almost double that in 2015. That had the county officials involved in the process asking how to do a redemption after a tax sale that had a surplus.

“If it was just a sale and the property owner wants to redeem and all it was paid was the amount of the tax interest and penalty and whatever, then fine, they walk in and they redeem it and that’s it,” Kenagy said. “Where there’s a surplus, that’s where the commission gets involved.”

Kenagy explained that there are two key components of a redemption after a tax sale. Firstly, after a tax sale, a written statement, signed by the county collector, is presented to the commission. This statement indicates whether the property sold for more than the outstanding tax amount and provides the total surplus money generated. The commission must approve this statement before the surplus money is transferred to the county treasury. By law, as the collector, Schwent is involved only in this first leg of the process.

“Then the next step is, well, a property owner comes in within the requisite time, and they say I want to redeem from the sale, which is apparently what these nice folks are doing here today, and they’re entitled to do that…as long as they’re within time,” Kenagy said.

To redeem the property, state statute says that owners are required to pay all unpaid taxes, incurred fees and the surplus generated during the tax sale. Owners entitled to the tax redemption money must file a claim with the commission to seek recovery of the surplus funds from the tax sale, and the commissioners then decide whether to approve the request.

While paying back all costs owed and recovering surplus funds are usually separate steps, Crawford County combined them to try to make it easier on property owners to get their land back.

Back when Kent Howald was still the Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney, Kenagy said that they discussed what to do if the surplus for a property was extremely high because, by law, claimants have to pay back the entire surplus amount. For example, one of Derek Thompson’s properties had $35,872.39 in surplus, which he would’ve had to pay the entire amount to redeem the property. To help county residents, Schwent was brought in to help with creating a tax sale surplus money policy when Howald wanted to test it in the collector’s system.

“Look at our tax base in Crawford County. Our people are factory workers, convenience store people, you know, things like that. They don’t have big revenues,” Schwent said. “So you try to adapt, in my opinion, as based on (a former) auditor, you try to adapt your county to what they can do and how you can help them do what they’re trying to accomplish.”

They helped create a streamlined process that combines both the redemption and surplus steps together. The collector presents the matter to the commission, accompanied by the party that wants to redeem the property, and they request that the commission authorize the treasurer to disburse the surplus funds.

After the commissioners approve releasing the surplus funds to the property owners, the check is issued and combined with what they owe in unpaid taxes and fees and it is redeemable at that time. The check is then endorsed back to the collector, so she can process the redemption.

Schwent said successful bidders are required to pay the taxes on the property purchased at the tax sale after she does the bills in November.

“We’ll be sending out tax statements for them to pay that, and on that one they get 8 percent interest from the time that it starts,” Schwent said. “This first one they’re getting 10 percent interest on.”

If a property is redeemed, the successful bidder gets their funds back with interest.

This streamlined process eliminates the need for the owner to write a large check, as they only need to provide funds for the taxes and penalties. Kenagy added that the redeemers also don’t have to have their money tied up for a period of time.

This current Crawford County Tax Sale Surplus Money Policy was adopted on Nov. 3, 2015.

While what the county is doing does not follow state statute directly, Kenagy said that an unnamed attorney from the Missouri Association of Counties (MAC) said that MAC has never issued a directive on the exact way a county should process a redemption.

“It’s not following the black letter law. Does that mean that it’s illegal? Does anybody lose anything in the end result? No. It turns out the same,” Kenagy said. “The whole deal that you did here today, where you redeem, and you get money out of the treasurer’s hands, is not what’s called for by the statute. It’s a shortcut version that gets the process done quicker than it otherwise would have been.”

While the beginning of the policy matches state statute 140.230, Kenagy said that combining the two steps is not mentioned, but it has the same ending result and is faster.

“What Pat has been doing all these years has been for the benefit of a property owner that’s trying to redeem….Is that the black letter law? No, it’s not,” Kenagy said. “So going forward,…Pat’s going to have to determine, you know, what her…process is going to be. It’s likely going to be the statutory process. The commission, if you follow the black letter of the law…you’re going to have to come up with some sort of protocol as to how a claimant who comes in and asks you to authorize the treasurer to pay out the surplus, how they…file their claim, make their claim, prove that they’re entitled to it, do whatever they have to do to satisfy you, that you can tell the treasurer to write them a check or do something else.”

Kenagy said county collectors are obligated to read state statute and do what feels appropriate under it.

District 2 Associate Commissioner Jared Boast said that he likes the current policy.

“There’s a lot of people, all due respect, that maybe don’t have $35,000 to cover that with….Instead of them trying to float the money through some sort of, can you hold the check and can you do this with the check, it just made the process a whole lot, a whole lot simpler,” Boast said. “My opinion, from my position at this table, is I don’t see anything wrong with the process. I think it’s been very fair, and I think it’s been very helpful to the people.”

Schwent said that the current policy needs to be amended to include that if someone walked into her office to redeem a property, that is the day the interest stops.

No action was taken on the matter until the commissioners can discuss the matter more with the county officials involved in the tax redemption process.

A motion to redeem the two properties under D. Thompson Properties LLC for $35,872.39 and $1,312.27 was approved with a 3-0 vote.