[Adopted 8-11-1988 (Ch. II, § 8, 2-08-02, of the 1991 Code)]
A. 
Pursuant to R.I.G.L. § 44-7-14(4), Town Councils are empowered to cancel, in whole or in part, taxes assessed upon personal, mixed, or real property pursuant to an ordinance intended to encourage the renovation, rehabilitation or construction of tax delinquent properties; and
B. 
Pursuant to R.I.G.L. § 44-9-18, towns are empowered to make regulations for the possession, management, and sale of land purchased or taken for taxes, not inconsistent with law or with the right of redemption; and
C. 
The Town of Glocester wishes to regulate such land and to enact a Town ordinance intended to encourage the renovation, rehabilitation, and/or construction of properties which have become tax delinquent and which the Town has purchased or taken for nonpayment of taxes.
The Town Council may cancel, in whole or in part, any taxes, interest, and penalties assessed upon personal, mixed, or real property when it finds that said cancellation may tend to encourage the renovation, rehabilitation or construction of tax delinquent properties.
In addition, or in the alternative, the Town Council may cause to be paid to the Town a sum not less or more than the amount necessary for the redemption of any land or property purchased or taken by the Town for nonpayment of taxes, may direct the Treasurer of the Town to assign and transfer the tax title to such land to any person, including the previous owner of said property, and may request the Treasurer to execute and deliver on behalf of the Town any instrument necessary therefor. In so doing, the Council shall first make a finding that any such payment by the Town or an assignment of land to the previous owner or other party may tend to encourage the renovation, rehabilitation, or construction of tax-delinquent property within the Town.
In particular, the Town Council is empowered to act under this article whenever, in its judgment, the cancellation of payment of taxes, the payment of other amounts necessary to redeem any land purchased or taken by the Town for nonpayment of taxes, and/or the assignment of a tax title to a property may tend to cause the original owner or other party (rather than the Town) to bear any portion of the costs of any renovation, rehabilitation, cleanup, repair, or construction on or with respect to tax-delinquent properties.