Geary County, KS tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Delinquent real estate taxes are referred to the County Counselor for foreclosure once they have gone unpaid for three years. If real estate taxes are still delinquent on August 1, the Treasurer publishes the delinquent list in the official county newspaper for three consecutive weeks in August under K.S.A. 79-2301 to 79-2323a.
• •An owner can pull a parcel off the sale by paying all taxes, interest, penalties and court costs through the Treasurer's Office at 785-238-6021 up to 5 p.m. the day before the auction. Parcels redeemed after publication are listed on display at the sale and are not offered, so the printed notice always runs longer than the parcels actually sold.
• •Sales here are infrequent rather than annual. The county's two most recent foreclosure actions are case GE-2019-CV-000215 and case GE-2025-CV-000026, and parcels left unsold from the 2019 case were folded back into the 2025 cycle. Expect long gaps followed by one large combined offering.
• •The sealed bid notice covering parcels unsold at the November 8, 2025 auction listed about forty causes of action, nearly all in Junction City, with judgment amounts from roughly $414 on a vacant original town lot up to $170,494.75 on a Commonwealth Drive parcel. Sealed bid winners paid Geary County care of the Tax Sale Clerk at the Sheriff's Department and owed an additional $50 per parcel to the Sheriff for administrative and recording costs.
• •Properties advertised in the Daily Union as sold "on the courthouse steps" are mortgage foreclosure sheriff's sales run for private lenders, not the county tax sale. The county sends those questions to the attorney for the mortgage company named in the notice, so read the notice carefully before treating a listing as a tax sale parcel.
• •Confirmation extinguishes all other liens of record, but covenants, restrictions and easements of record survive and the buyer takes subject to them. The buyer also owes any taxes and special assessments outside the judgment, including the full year's taxes for the calendar year of the auction, and is responsible for any eviction needed to take possession. The county gives no assurance that a title company will insure the parcel, so ask a local title company about coverage before bidding.
• •A buyer who sells, gives or otherwise conveys a tract to anyone who held a statutory right to redeem it, within ten years of the auction date, becomes personally liable for an amount equal to the original judgment lien plus interest from the auction date.
• •The published sale notice directs bidder questions to Geary County Counselor Betsy Edwards at 785-238-3126. The county tax sale page also lists the Counselor's office at 801 N Washington Suite D, Junction City, KS 66441, 785-762-4075. The auction itself is conducted by the Sheriff's Office at 826 N. Franklin Street, Junction City, KS 66441, non emergency 785-238-2261. Sale notices run in the Daily Union, 222 W 6th Street, Junction City, KS 66441, 785-762-5000.

Kansas rules

Redemption

Kansas redemption has two stages, and both close before the auction. Stage one is K.S.A. 79-2401a: once the treasurer bids the parcel off to the county in September, the county holds it for three years for a homestead under section 9 of article 15 of the Kansas Constitution and for all real estate not described in K.S.A. 79-2401a(a), two years where the parcel was bid off for both delinquent taxes and special assessments, and one year for an abandoned building or structure and the land accommodating it, meaning one that has been unoccupied for at least a year with a failure to perform reasonable maintenance. During that window the owner pays the county treasurer directly. On the three-year track a PARTIAL redemption is allowed: paying the taxes for one or more years, starting with the earliest year the parcel was carried on the tax-sale book, plus interest at the K.S.A. 79-2004 rate, pushes back the date a foreclosure sale may be commenced by the number of years paid. The Johnson County paragraph applies the same partial payment to the most recent year instead of the earliest, and it does not carry the extension sentence. Stage two is K.S.A. 79-2803: after the petition is filed the treasurer may no longer take ordinary payments, but the owner or holder of record title, their heirs, devisees, executors, administrators, assigns, or any mortgagee or mortgagee's assigns may still redeem at any time BEFORE THE DAY OF SALE by filing an application to redeem with the clerk of the district court and paying the clerk a share of the costs, being whatever the court orders or, absent an order, 5 percent of the lien amount stated in the petition for that parcel plus any charges chargeable separately against it. The treasurer then computes the full taxes, charges, interest, and penalties, issues a redemption certificate in triplicate, and the sheriff strikes the parcel from the order of sale. Once the sale happens the right is gone. Kansas gives no post-sale redemption period and no right to buy the property back after the sheriff's deed. What exists after the sale is a twelve-month window under K.S.A. 79-2804b to open, vacate, modify, or set aside the judgment, the order of sale, or the sale. That is a title challenge, not redemption: it is available to parties attacking the proceedings, it requires grounds, and it does not let a former owner simply pay the taxes and take the parcel back.K.S.A. 79-2401a - Redemption of real estate bid off by county; period of redemptionK.S.A. 79-2401aVerified Aug 23, 2026

Deed deposit

Kansas fixes no statewide deposit percentage and no statutory bidder registration. K.S.A. 79-2804 is silent on deposits, so the terms are whatever the sheriff publishes for that sale. The statute does require one payment at the auction itself: the register of deeds filing fee for the sheriff's deed is collected from the successful bidder at the time of sale and deposited with the register of deeds at recording. Confirm the county's accepted funds, any registration step, and the payment deadline before bidding, and expect certified funds.K.S.A. 79-2804 - Order of sale; publication notice; sheriff's sale; deed, execution and recordationK.S.A. 79-2804Verified Aug 23, 2026

Surplus proceeds

If a parcel sells for more than the judgment lien for taxes, interest, penalty, and charges plus its share of the costs, charges, and expenses of the proceedings and sale, the court orders the excess paid, upon due proof, to the owner or the party entitled to it. The court apportions costs across the parcels sold as soon as practicable after the sale, deducts the total costs from the gross proceeds, and equitably apportions the balance to each parcel that sold for more than its share. The clerk pays that balance to the county treasurer, who prorates it among the state, city, township, school district, and other taxing units in proportion to their interest in the lien, and cancels the taxes charged against the parcel. Tax liens on every parcel sold or redeemed in the action are satisfied and discharged of record.K.S.A. 79-2803 - Judgment; redemption before day of sale; apportionment of costs and surplusK.S.A. 79-2803Verified Aug 23, 2026

Governing statute

K.S.A. Chapter 79, Article 28 (79-2801 et seq.)K.S.A. 79-2801 - Action to enforce lien for unredeemed real estate bid in by countyK.S.A. 79-2801Verified Aug 23, 2026

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.

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