PARIS — On Tuesday evening, the town of Paris may be the reluctant owner of as many as nine homes.

Tuesday is the final day for residents to pay 2008-09 property taxes before the town forecloses on their homes, according to Deputy Tax Collector Elizabeth Knox.

Knox said she expects one more homeowner to come to the Town Office and pay Tuesday, bringing the likely foreclosure number to eight.

She said that’s about the same as last year, but more than the years before the recession.

That figure is down from the beginning of 2011, when there were 32 properties with outstanding 2009 taxes. Knox said when she sent out courtesy letters to those with outstanding taxes back in November there were 41.

Of the eight foreclosures Knox expects the town to make, seven of those are wholly owned by the homeowners; only one has a mortgage. She said in most situations with mortgage holders, the lender works out a deal with the town to pay the taxes.

“The town’s not in the habit of taking property,” Knox said Friday. She said the town will try to make purchase and sale agreements, allowing residents to buy their homes back from the town over a set period of time.

Knox said the town doesn’t want to own property or be a landlord to its residents. She said residents have been able to work out arrangements to buy back their properties in past foreclosures. “The town has never auctioned off foreclosed property,” she said.

She said the town will give residents until the end of the day to pay up. The deadline was originally scheduled for Monday but was postponed because the Town Office is closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

treaves@sunjournal.com