Every now and then I see a news article about a town being sold. I think one was even on Ebay for awhile.
Pray Montana is currently in the news. I’m confused how a town can be sold. Don’t people own their own homes and businesses? What property would a town own?
How can a government be sold? Isn’t this a legal entity? The article says there is a Mayor. If you buy the town do you have to assume all the duties of running the government and dealing with the County and State governments?
What’s the difference in buying land vs buying a town?
There isn’t a big difference between buying a town and just buying the same amount of land somewhere else except for the fact that the town sale includes most or all of the land of a place that is on the maps and usually has its own zip code and some type of government structure already in place that is recognized by the state. Notice that all the towns you see for sale are in places that are almost completely depopulating and usually for a reason. As a latch ditch effort, the people that own the land and buildings in those types of places offer everything as a bundle if someone has a bright idea on how to do something better with it.
If you bought the land and buildings that used to be a viable town, it would still be an incorporated entity in the state and you would have lots of control of the area including the town government if you wanted it. The specifics would depend depend on the state in question and the legal structure that you set up once you decide what to do with the land. Such town sales are usually very small in size (tens or hundreds of acres) and you could control most everything once you decided what to do with your new land that happens to be incorporated as a town.
I assume the residents can still vote for whoever they want for mayor. AFAIK, serfdom is not legal in the U.S. Or can voting rights be restricted to property owners?
Could you buy one with the intent of making it a speed trap? Could you say, pass a municipal ordinance making it a $10,000 fine to drive over 14 miles per hour within the city limits, and nail every single motorist who pulls off the highway to buy gas?
You can’t restrict voting rights directly but, if you literally owned all the land that is incorporated as a town, you could control who lives there given enough time. You could set it up so that you and your family are the only true residents and the rest of it is for businesses and tourism only. We are talking about really small areas in general.
Of course, not all these deals are the same. Some of them are just real-estate advertising gimmicks to sell useless property to egomaniacs. It would depend on the specifics, the state, and what you did with your property. If you used the land to make new housing developments that people live in full-time, they would certainly be allowed to vote.
The article indicated most residents live outside the town. They may not even pay city taxes or vote in that city.
It sounds like the town is just a place they came into for mail and groceries. Even the store is currently closed. Which means the locals are driving elsewhere to buy groceries and other stuff. I bet there’s a Walmart within 25 miles of that town.
It might be a good opportunity for someone that wanted to reopen the store and maybe a local cafe. A lot depends on whether you could get the locals to bother driving in.
I was looking at the real estate listing and there’s nothing mentioned about water or a sewage system. That could be a very limiting factor in any future development.
I’m pretty sure the rules for a community well would require a lot more red tape and regulations then a typical homeowner’s well in the backyard.
That listing seems way over priced for 5 Acres and a few old buildings.
I doubt it but maybe something like that for a while at least. Most laws in the U.S. are at the state level so you always have state oversight. It depends on the state in question but you would still have to follow the state and federal constitution plus all laws under those. Most municipal codes are very limited in scope and the state could always trump you with legislation or a court case.
Look up Marsh v. Alabama, US SC. This case was where the SC ruled the 1st AM could bind a private entity, here, the “Private town”.
This will give an idea of how a town can be owned, for illustration purposes, absent the 1st AM implications.
It’s true you can’t have serfdom but I’ve heard in Los Angeles County there are some small incorporated entities with only a very small number of actual residential lots. The rest of the physical area is dominated by industrial facilities or businesses. Since businesses and such don’t get to vote, the voters are all part of a small cabal of owners who then do shady stuff like transmit the entire town’s property tax revenue into six-figure salaries for the few people who live there and who are serving as city council members. I remember hearing about stuff like this when the infamous information about Bell, CA came out (it was a genuine city w/around 35k people) where their city council members were making $500k+ a year.
Apparently throughout the country there are a few instances of very small towns that are controlled by a small cabal, and when the town has viable businesses in the city limits they can basically enrich themselves off of the property taxes paid by those businesses.
Are these ‘buy a town’ investments ever successful? I recall that Kim Basinger bought a Georgia town in the early 90s and it was a major financial loser. She intended to create a film fest tourist type destination but a later unrelated movie studio lawsuit prevented her from investing further into the town infrastructure.
Sure, but what do you think happens then? What good is town ownership of land? It doesn’t bring in taxes, and when the ownership changes from the delinquent taxpayer, that just burdens the town with something they can’t use, so they sell it, usually for the amount of taxes owed.
Not necessarily. Consider that many places may have their own wells and septic tanks/leach fields, or be part of a shared one. My former landlady had a good high production drilled well and IIRC three septic systems that together took care of her home, her mother’s home,.her sister’s home, two neighbors’ home, four rental properties of hers and one of a neighbor’s, and the general store which she owned. There were several other buildings not in use within that ambit as well, presumably hooked or hookable into the system.
Also, HUD and DOA have grants for building or upgrading small-community water or sewer systems if 50%+1 of the community is low income by their definition.
Any power towns have is given to them by state law. If state laws allow towns to pass ordinances with $10,000 fines for moving violations, then yes the town could do that. Quite possibly, some state’s municpal laws are written to allow such a thing, but I suspect if a town ever did pass such an ordinance, the state might quickly amend state laws to disallow the ordinance.
Isn’t this a legal entity? The article says there is a Mayor. If you buy the town do you have to assume all the duties of running the government and dealing with the County and State governments?