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Smith County commissioners on Tuesday approved a policy that will allow online auctions for tax-foreclosed properties.

Currently, such auctions are held in-person on the steps of the Smith County Courthouse on the first Tuesday of every month, said attorney Jim Lambeth.

Under state statute, the county now has the ability to hold these auctions online, Lambeth said.

“If we go online, we believe that we’re going to open up our market, have a lot more buyers, probably attract more money and also have a lot more excess proceeds out of these,” he said.

Lambeth said other counties that conduct tax-foreclosed property auctions online have been researched to see how they conduct the sales.

Smith County will implement rules for the online auctions, including a $300 fee during every sale on each property collected from the buyer. Buyers also will have to present a certificate showing they owe no delinquent taxes in Smith County before the deed is given to them, Lambeth said.

The hope is that auctions will begin online by Feb. 1. If successful, they no longer will be held at the courthouse. Auctions still will be held on the first Tuesday of the month and begin in the mornings and conclude by 4 p.m.

Holding auctions online “is the methodology for doing business these days, and it is going to be a best practice, or is a best practice,” Lambeth said. “We’ve reviewed it. We’ve really looked at it, and we think the time has come for us to be adding that here in Smith County.”

Commissioners on Tuesday also approved interlocal agreement to allow another Texas city to use technology maintained by the Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC) in Tyler.

Smith County has an agreement with the Electronic Recovery and Access to Data Group to add advanced technology to the center that helps combat financial crimes. Part of the agreement allows the county to team with other law enforcement agencies across the state to share data and information through the new system.

The city of San Marcos is now among three other entities with access to the Financial Crimes Intelligence Center database. Others include the city of Farmers Branch, the city of Dickinson and the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office.

“This just shows the reach the FCIC has across the state,” said Assistant District Attorney Thomas Wilson. “We have agreements with cities in North Texas, in the Houston area and now in Central Texas.”

The court on Tuesday also approved items that are part of Phase Two of the Smith County Road and Bridge Project:

A contract with Texana Land and Asphalt totaling about $2.5 million for about 8.1 miles of improvements to CR 285, CR 2274 and CR 2275.

• A contract with Reynolds and Kay totaling about $1.2 million for about 3.25 miles of paving and drainage improvements to CR 188, CR1266 and CR 1347.
• A contract with Texana Land and Asphalt totaling about $615,479 for about 2 miles of improvements to CR 1229 and CR 1250.
• A contract with Reynolds and Kay totaling about $278,326 for about 0.8 miles of improvements to CR 4223 and CR 3195.