AN unreserved auction will take place at Derby on Saturday for nine properties for unpaid rates and charges under Section 137 of the Local Government Act.
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The properties are at Pioneer, Derby, Branxholm, Ringarooma and Alberton.
Dorset Council corporate services manager Guy Jetson said the auctioning off of these properties was a last resort for the council on occasions that it could not locate the owners.
"The properties in this category are those that have rates outstanding for greater than three years, and that (auctioning off) is what is prescribed under the act," Mr Jetson said.
"In that category it usually is, as is the case here, that they are quite often a deceased estate, or we are unable to contact the owner.
"We only do this after making all reasonable and normal processes to collect the rates."
Mr Jetson said it had been three or four years since the council had held an auction such as this.
"With these ones, we can't identify who owns the properties.
"But if we do know, we will always work with our ratepayers to try to get a solution in difficult times, from a payment point of view, if they are having financial difficulties.
"This auction really is the last resort for us, and we have no other option but to put them through section 137.
"Our main concern with these auctions is to recover the rates that are outstanding and to ensure that someone buys the properties and continue to pay the rates."
If the owners come forward before Saturday, the properties will be withdrawn from the auction.
The most recent auditors general report into local government finances said the Dorest Council was owed $606,000 in unpaid rates. The same report said $15.8 million in unpaid rates was owed statewide.
The Dorset auction, by Harcourts North-East, will run from 11am on Saturday at the Derby Town Hall, in Main Street.
