County's "No Man's Land" Quagmire

Tom Green County has a numerous infinitesimal pieces of land randomly scattered throughout the county. The county would like to be able to donate or give away these minuscule properties; unfortunately it’s not that simple.

In order for the county to resolve this vexation of a problem, the pieces of land must first be appraised to determine fair market value, and then offered for general public sale. In most cases the cost to pay for an appraisal exceeds the actual value of the land, making it difficult to justify the allocation of funds for that purpose.

“Little bits and pieces of properties have fallen between the cracks, due to title issues and survey issues that were for the most part gained through tax sales for which there was no buyer and no one willing to pay for a piece of property you couldn’t get to,” Steve Floyd explained at Tuesday's commissioner’s court meeting.  

Geographically managing county land has changed over the years. In the past, land survey techniques had the right principles, but were not always accurate or reliable, due to the lack of technology. Today a GIS (Geographic Information System) computer system and GPS are utilized, rather than the obsolete ways of land surveying such as rope and chain.

As GIS is being employed within the county for land surveying purposes, property boundaries are being drawn more accurately than ever before.  This modern method brings to light the pesky “no man’s land” plots that has Tom Green County in somewhat of a pickle.

There is an active list of properties being compiled through collaboration between commissioner’s court and the appraisal district. The complexity of this daunting task, and the ever changing list of properties acquired through unpaid taxes makes it extremely challenging.

“Please contact the commission if you find a specific piece of property, and you think it may have merit, and you would like to cover the costs of the county disposing of it; we would be glad to work with you.” Floyd expressed.