Phillips County, CO tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Phillips County, seat of Holyoke: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how Colorado tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Phillips County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Phillips County Treasurer / Public Trustee
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Late October, online, starting at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time. The Treasurer's page states: "The 2025 Phillips County Tax Lien Sale will be Tuesday, October 28, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. MST. The auction will be held online, and will be hosted by GovEase." The county's published delinquent tax lien list gives the same date and notes the sale continues on "succeeding days" if needed.
- Next expected
- by the second Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Registration and deposit
Register online through GovEase before the sale closes registration. The county-posted GovEase flyer for the 2025 sale states registration opened September 26, 2025 and closed October 27, 2025, and that bidders must create an account at govease.com and complete the online registration documents before being approved to bid. Bidder sign-up runs through liveauctions.govease.com/Bidder/UserProfile, and GovEase publishes free bidder training videos at govease.com/bidderhelp. Bidding rules for the sale are posted on the Phillips County Treasurer's website.
Phillips County runs a fully online certificate sale on GovEase, so no in-person courthouse attendance is required. The Treasurer states the interest rate is set each September 1 at nine percent above the federal discount rate, rounded up; the published 2025 list carried a redemption interest rate of 15 percent. The amount purchased covers the tax, delinquent interest through November, advertising, and certificate fees, and the Treasurer notes that a successful bidder generally pays a premium above the lien amount. Interest accrues on the lien but not on the premium. The published list is unusually mineral-heavy for a rural county: it includes mineral and natural resource interests and manufactured housing alongside real estate, and many mineral parcels carry balances under $100. Certificate holders should also account for the post-2024 Treasurer's Deed process: the county advises that deeds are no longer issued automatically to the lien holder, the deed option is instead sold at an online public auction to the highest bidder with an opening bid equal to the lien plus Treasurer's fees and costs (premium excluded), the lien holder may still redeem for the auction purchase price, and the county's application deposit for the real estate Treasurer's Deed process is $800. Verify the current year's sale date and registration window with the Treasurer's office, since the county's sale page was still showing the prior year's sale as of this review.
Register on GovEaseTax deed sale
- Run by
- County Treasurer
- Frequency
- on application
- Typical timing
- There is no fixed calendar. A public auction is scheduled only when a certificate holder applies for one, at least three years after the tax lien sale, and the treasurer must hold it between 110 and 125 calendar days after the known interested party notice is first published or mailed.
Registration and deposit
What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright. The treasurer may only accept bids above the combined amount owed to the lawful holder plus the treasurer's fees and costs. County officials, county employees acting in their individual capacity, and their immediate family members may not bid. Payment is by cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. Any overbid goes to junior lienors who filed a notice of intent to redeem and then to the property owner. Confirm the notice, the bidding rules, and the auction venue with the county treasurer.
This Article 11.5 process replaced direct deed issuance on July 1, 2024. Colorado does not hold a routine calendar tax deed sale, so treat this as an occasional, application-driven auction rather than a recurring event.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
Liens that draw no bid are struck off to the county and the treasurer issues the county a certificate of purchase. The county may then assign, sell, or transfer those certificates in the manner, at the times, and on the terms set by resolution of the board of county commissioners, which is how county-held liens are sold between annual auctions. A certificate on property owing more than ten thousand dollars in taxes needs the property tax administrator's approval after published notice. Whether a county maintains a published county-held list, and on what terms, varies. Contact the county treasurer.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Notes for Phillips County
- Treasurer / Public Trustee is Steve Young, serving since 2023, with Crystal Oakley as Deputy Treasurer. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- The Treasurer's page lists PO Box 267, Holyoke, CO 80734 as the office address; the county's published delinquent tax lien list identifies the office location as the Courthouse in Holyoke. No street address is given on the Treasurer's own page.
- The county site also hosts sibling pages for Endorsement of Tax Liens, Redemption of Tax Liens, and Treasurer's Deed under Tax Lien Information, plus a recorded Treasurer's Deed investor seminar linked from the sale page.
- The county-wide phone number 970-854-3778 shown in the site footer belongs to the Administration Office at 221 S. Interocean Ave., Holyoke, not the Treasurer. Use 970-854-2822 for sale questions.
Colorado statewide rules
- Redemption
- Redemption may be made at any time before a treasurer's deed is executed, so the practical window runs well past the three-year mark and through the Article 11.5 auction process. The treasurer must hold that public auction between 110 and 125 calendar days after the known interested party notice is first published or mailed, which gives owners and junior lienors a further defined period to pay. A separate rule lets an owner who was under a legal disability when the deed was executed redeem within nine years of the deed being recorded, at 15 percent per year plus the present value of any improvements.
- Deed deposit
- The treasurer may require the applying lawful holder to post a deposit covering the recording fee plus the actual and reasonable cost of administering the auction, and all Article 11.5 fees and costs are chargeable as additional amounts owing under the tax lien. For bidders, the treasurer accepts cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. The statute sets no fixed bidder deposit percentage, so the deposit terms come from county bidding rules.
- Surplus proceeds
- Any overbid goes first to junior lienors in order of recording priority, measured as of the recording date of the application for public auction, who filed a notice of intent to redeem and whose liens are unredeemed, up to each lien's unpaid amount plus fees and costs. Whatever remains is paid to the property owner. The treasurer must post a public notice about these funds and mail the owner a notice within thirty calendar days of the auction. Unclaimed remaining overbids sit in escrow for six months without interest, then transfer to the state administrator under the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. An agreement to pay someone to recover an owner's overbid is unenforceable, and inducing one is a class 2 misdemeanor.
A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Phillips County, Colorado sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Phillips County follows Colorado's tax lien state system.
When is the Phillips County tax certificate sale?
- Late October, online, starting at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time. The Treasurer's page states: "The 2025 Phillips County Tax Lien Sale will be Tuesday, October 28, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. MST. The auction will be held online, and will be hosted by GovEase." The county's published delinquent tax lien list gives the same date and notes the sale continues on "succeeding days" if needed.. Registration and bidding happen on the county's online platform. Always confirm the exact date with the Tax Collector before the sale.
How often does Phillips County hold tax deed sales?
- on application. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.
Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.
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