Smith County, KS tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Vernon Reinking is the Smith County Treasurer. The office is in the courthouse at 218 South Grant, Suite 4, in Smith Center, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Friday and 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, staying open through the lunch hour. Fax is 785-282-5175 and email is [email protected].
• •Smith County has a County Attorney rather than a county counselor, and that office files and prosecutes any tax foreclosure. Tabitha D.R. Owen is the County Attorney at 218 S. Grant, P.O. Box 365, Smith Center, KS 66967, phone 785-282-6689, fax 785-282-6553, open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays with a noon to 1:00 p.m. closure.
• •Travis Conaway is the Sheriff. The Sheriff's Office is at 217 South Jefferson Street in Smith Center, on the east side of the courthouse, phone 785-282-5180, fax 785-282-5185. That office conducts any tax foreclosure auction and can give you the deposit and payment terms once a sale bill is published.
• •The Smith County Pioneer, published in Smith Center, is the county's legal newspaper and carries every county legal notice, so a tax foreclosure sale bill runs there. Smith County notices are also searchable by county on the Kansas Press Association public notice site, which is the quickest way to catch a sale bill between issues of the paper.
• •The Treasurer's delinquent real estate notice ran on August 6, 13 and 20 in 2026 and covered taxes for the year 2024. Tracts still unpaid before the first Tuesday in September move from the current tax roll to the redemption tax roll, which is the step that later makes them eligible for county foreclosure. The notice states plainly that it is not itself a sale and that no changes or deletions are made to the published list after the stated deadline.
• •Smith County parcels, current tax and tax history can be looked up through the county's Tax Information Module, searchable by CAMA number, owner identification number, parcel number, name, property address, subdivision or section, township and range. That lookup covers taxes only and lists no foreclosure sales.
• •Useful numbers at the Smith Center courthouse, 218 South Grant: Treasurer 785-282-5170 for payoff and redemption figures, County Attorney 785-282-6689 for pending tax foreclosure cases, Sheriff 785-282-5180 for sale terms and location, County Clerk 785-282-5110 for tax rolls and mill levies, and Register of Deeds 785-282-5160 at Suite 7 for title work.

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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