Morris County, KS tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The Morris County Treasurer's Office is at 501 W Main Street, Council Grove, KS 66846, phone 620-767-5617, fax 620-767-6861, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Kelsey Sharr is the Treasurer. This is the office that holds the delinquent roll and quotes the payoff on a parcel.
• •County Counselor William A. Kassebaum handles the county's civil work from 501 W Main Street, Council Grove, KS 66846, phone 620-767-5899. In Morris County the Counselor, not the County Attorney, is the office to call about a pending tax foreclosure case, the parcels still in it, and the bidder terms for a scheduled sale. The County Attorney's office shares the same phone and building and handles criminal matters.
• •The Morris County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Scott Coover at 501 W Main Street, Council Grove, phone 620-767-6310, conducts the auction once the district court issues the order of sale.
• •The Morris County District Court sits in the courthouse at 501 W Main Street, Suite 12, Council Grove, phone 620-767-6838, as part of the Eighth Judicial District, with Jan Helmer as Clerk of the District Court. The judgment, the order of sale and the confirmation of sale all come from this court, and redemption money runs through the Clerk up to the day of the sheriff's sale, so the court file is where the real sale terms live.
• •The Treasurer's office sets out the county's own route to a sale: taxes unpaid for three years make a property eligible for tax foreclosure by the county, the county holds the foreclosure sale when the County Commissioners initiate one, and the property is sold at public auction after due process has been served. The same page states that anyone with delinquent real estate taxes in the county cannot bid at the auction.
• •Do not confuse the September step with the auction. Each August the Treasurer publishes a delinquent real estate tax list naming the first Tuesday of September as the date the listed tracts are bid in for Morris County under K.S.A. 79-2303. The 2026 notice covers unpaid 2025 taxes plus advertising fees and 13% per annum, and it says in terms that no individual bids will be received for that sale. It moves no title to any bidder; it starts the clock that can later end in a foreclosure sale.
• •For parcel research the Treasurer links a Morris County tax search that can be filtered to statements with taxes due, current or delinquent, which is the quickest way to see what is running behind before a sale bill appears.
• •Morris County publishes no tax sale calendar, and the delinquent roll it advertises runs to parcels in Council Grove, Dwight and Wilsey among other towns. Treat the Council Grove Republican legal notices and a call to the County Counselor as the way to learn a sale is coming, and expect long stretches with nothing on offer. The same paper also carries legal notices for neighbouring counties, so check the county named in each notice before acting on it.

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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