A key deadline is approaching for people who are quite a bit behind on paying their property taxes.

Tuesday marks the date that if a property is at least three years in arrears on property taxes, it becomes eligible to be sold at a county tax auction.

Officials at the Douglas County Treasurer’s office have been compiling the delinquent property tax rolls for the past several weeks. So far, the economic downturn hasn’t shown up much in terms of unpaid property taxes.

“We’ve certainly been getting more calls, but thus far most people are still managing to get them paid,” said Douglas County Treasurer Paula Gilchrist.

The county’s recently prepared delinquent tax roll numbers listed 1,156 properties that had unpaid taxes totaling $2,895,360. Those numbers actually are down slightly from a year earlier, when there were 1,242 properties owing $2,965,490.

Gilchrist said the numbers are consistent with what she’s seen for the past several years.

Although Tuesday is the date which properties become eligible under state law to be sold at a tax auction, don’t expect an auction anytime soon. Gilchrist said it takes about a year for all the legal processes to be gone through before an auction actually can be held. No date for an auction has been set.

The county held a tax auction last month for properties that were at least three years behind in taxes. Only four properties were up for auction.

Gilchrist said most property owners pay their taxes to the point that they never become three years behind. But people who do pay late are subject to a 7 percent interest penalty.