Otter Tail County to auction tax-forfeited land online

Otter Tail County has put tax-forfeited land back before bidders through online sales on Public Surplus, where parcels have opened at prices from $100 to $425,100. The county says land that goes unpaid for three years reverts to the State of Minnesota, then can be sold to the highest bidder and, if it does not sell in one round, sent back to auction later. In a county shaped by lakes, farms and scattered townships, that makes the sale a practical test of whether old tax debt becomes new ownership, new use and, eventually, new value on the local books.

The county’s 2025 auction booklet said online bidding ran from June 2, 2025, to July 2, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. CST. It also said every sale had to be paid in full, the auction was governed by Laws of Minnesota, 2024, Chapter 113, and accommodations could be requested in advance for people with disabilities. Unsold parcels were to be carried into the next public auction, a detail that underlines how Otter Tail County treats forfeited land as a recurring inventory rather than a one-time cleanup.

The online format widens the field beyond Fergus Falls. Public Surplus listings show the kind of buyers the county is trying to reach: residents looking for a lot, cabin seekers, people needing storage or yard space, and speculators willing to take a chance on a tract that may need work before it can be used. For a county with many rural parcels and lake properties, that accessibility matters because bidders do not have to be standing at a local counter to participate.

Lynn Larson, the county recorder, said the goal is to return parcels to private ownership and productive use, which in turn helps the local tax base over time. That goal now sits inside a wider state reset. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Tyler v. Hennepin County ruling, Minnesota lawmakers created a $109 million settlement fund and new rules for pre-2024 forfeited properties. Under that law, participating counties must remit 75% of sale proceeds through June 30, 2027, then 85% from July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2029.

Otter Tail County’s repeated notices in 2025, including a second round in May and a third later in the year, show that forfeiture sales are becoming a regular tool of land recycling. The county is not just clearing old tax records; it is deciding which parcels get another life in housing, recreation or business, and which remain idle outside the tax base.