The Nye County Treasurer's Office will place 138 properties on the auction block for non-payment of delinquent taxes May 7 at the Bob Ruud Community Center.

Anyone who wants to bid on the property will need to register at 9 a.m. to get a bid card. The sale begins at 10 a.m.

A half-page advertisement in the Friday, April 4, Pahrump Valley Times states properties will be sold to the highest bidder, payable with money order or cashier's check. The total sales price must be no less than the amount of taxes, costs, penalties and interest.

The properties are all in Pahrump, except for two parcels in the Lathrop Wells mobile home subdivision. Kim Lara, Nye County deputy treasurer, said a sale will also be held for delinquent properties in northern Nye County May 5.

The Nye County treasurers' office hasn't had a tax sale since 2004, Lara said. Some of the properties on the list were deeded to the county two or three years ago, she said.

Property owners who don't pay their property taxes for more than three years are subject to having their property seized under Nevada law. The title search sometimes takes up to a year, Lara said.

Nye County hired Angela Schallenberger as a deputy treasurer effective Jan. 2, specifically to coordinate the tax sale.

Many of the properties have minimum bids of under $2,000. Lara said most of the properties are probably just vacant land.

In addition to the publication of the advertisement, some potential bidders are being contacted who have asked to be on a notification list, she said.

"We do have investment companies that come in and do bid on these properties. They're already lined out with money to bid on them," Lara said.

The tax sale became an issue in the November 2006 campaign for county treasurer.