At this point, economic hardships from the pandemic appear to have had a minimal impact on Kamloops homeowners delinquent on their property taxes.

The tax sale will be happening next Monday, Sept. 27, at the Kamloops Yacht Club, where homes that are three years behind on their taxes will be auctioned off.

There was no tax sale held in Kamloops last year, as the B.C. government gave municipalities the option to delay the auction by a year because of the pandemic. That means some homes auctioned off this year may be four years behind.

Kamloops revenue and taxation manager Cara Dawson says as of this morning, about 40 properties were delinquent on their taxes, which is more than cut in half compared to the start of last week.

And Dawson expects that number to drop significantly this week.

“I was concerned when we first pulled the list this year, I thought there would be a large increase in dollars, or number of properties, but fortunately it does seem comparable to prior years… And we’re hoping to see quite a number of payments this week so we get down to as few as possible.”

In 2019, the last time there was a tax sale, only two Kamloops homes had to be auctioned off.

The tax sale will start at 10 a.m. next Monday, and Dawson emphasized the location at the yacht club on River Street is a change from normal years, as it’s normally held at city hall.