FIVE property owners have been given a final warning to pay up or lose their land.
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A last resort auction to help Gunnedah Shire Council recoup unpaid rates and charges has been set down for Friday, March 31.
Five properties will go under the hammer to recover a total of $21,033.54 in rates that have remained unpaid during the last five years.
A spokesperson for the council said the auction comes after a "lengthy process of contacting owners for payment", and all other avenues had been exhausted.
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"Property owners have until the time of the sale to make arrangements satisfactory to the council for payment of outstanding rates and charges," the spokesperson said.
"Otherwise the land will be sold by public auction."
The five properties up for grabs are all vacant parcels of land at 7172 Oxley Highway Gunnedah, Euroa Street Gunnedah, Kamilaroi Highway in Breeza, Francis Studdy Road in Emerald Hill and 988 Prairies Road in Kelvin.
All of the properties are associated with deceased estates or entities that are no longer in existence.
Mayor Jamie Chaffey said after the sale, any funds owing to council will be collected, and any extra profit will go to the state government.
He said the council itself would not be bidding on any of the land.
And, if the properties don't sell it would hinder the services council provides to the community.
"Any funds that we don't have, that we are accounting for in our long term financial plan, will impact on what we can deliver if we don't receive that," he told the Leader.
The auction will be conducted by Lakeford Real Estate at The Civic, on March 31 at 11am.
The push to recover the unpaid rates comes after the council auctioned off 15 properties last year, putting more than $165,000 back in it's wallet.
Earlier this year, Tamworth Regional Council auctioned off 15 properties across Tamworth, Manilla and Barraba.
The number of properties to go under the hammer was originally 39, but this significantly decreased as owners opted to cough up the cash.
At the time, mayor Russell Webb told the Leader he was "very pleased" to see people come forward and make the payments.
"We are in a better place than we were before we started this process," he said.
Council purchased one of the parcels of land in Manilla after councillors agreed to bid on any properties that didn't sell.
A report will be presented to council before June 30 to outline final costings from the auctions, which are still to be determined.
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