§ 48-5-359 — Sale of property for taxes due municipality; purchase and sale by municipality; recitals in tax deeds prima-facie correct; distribution and retention of proceeds of sale

(a) The time, place, and manner of the sale of real and personal property for taxes due municipalities shall be the same as that provided by law for sheriffs' sales for state and county taxes. A sale for taxes due may be conducted by the marshal or duly authorized officer of the municipality and may be held in the council chamber or the usual place of meeting of the governing authority of the municipality. (b) If, during any sale of property by a municipality for taxes due and after the property has been offered a reasonable time, no one present at the sale bids an amount for the property being sold which is as much as the total of the tax due plus the officer's cost due on the sale, then any duly appointed officer or agent of the municipality may purchase the property for the municipality. If the municipality purchases property at a sale, the marshal or other officer conducting the sale shall make to the municipality a deed to the property sold and shall deliver the deed to the officer designated by the municipality to receive it. Title acquired by a municipality at a tax sale by a deed issued pursuant to the sale shall be as perfect, valid, and binding, after the period provided for redemption by the owner has elapsed and there is no redemption by the owner, as if purchased by any person other than the municipality. The marshal or other duly authorized officer conducting the sale shall put the municipality, through any officer or person the municipality designates, in possession of the property so sold. (c) Property acquired by a municipality pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section may be divested or alienated by the municipality only by public sale of the property to the highest bidder. However, when it is clearly shown to the municipal governing authority that returned or unreturned property has been sold and purchased by the governing authority to protect both the taxes of the municipality and the cost of collecting such taxes and that the governing authority has not parted with title to the property, the governing authority may quitclaim the property by unanimous vote to the owner of the property at the time of purchase by the governing authority or to the owner's administrators, executors, heirs, or assigns upon payment of all taxes which are due on the property and all costs due by reason of the sale. (d) Each municipality may pass appropriate ordinances and bylaws to carry into effect this Code section. (e) The recitals in a deed under a sale for municipal taxes shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts recited in the deed. (f) The marshal of a municipality and other officers of the municipality whose duty it is to collect the taxes and other revenues of the municipality by levy and sale shall be subject to be ruled for money in the hands of the officer arising from the public sale of any property pursuant to process issued by the municipality. Action pursuant to this Code section may be taken either in the superior court, city court, or state court in the county where the municipality is located and shall be accomplished in the same manner as sheriffs and constables are ruled for the distribution of money coming into their hands from the sale of any property. (g) When an execution is placed in the hands of the marshal or other selling officer of any municipality with written notice to retain the proceeds arising from the sale of any property of the defendant in fi. fa., the marshal or other selling officer, after first paying to the municipality the amount due on the process under which the sale was made, shall retain the balance of the funds in his hands until he is ordered by the court first acquiring jurisdiction under proper proceedings to pay out the funds.