Cobb County is preparing to auction off two buildings owned by County Commissioner Annette Kesting because she has repeatedly fallen behind paying her real estate taxes, and she stands to lose a third through foreclosure.

Kesting, who is running for re-election this year to represent south Cobb, owes about $3,180 in delinquent 2007 taxes, penalties and interest on the duplex buildings she co-owns with her husband in Powder Springs, county records show.

Those taxes were due Oct. 15. The properties will go to the highest bidder in May unless she pays up.

Kesting owns three buildings on Cemetary Street, with two units each, and she fully paid her taxes on only one building. She has been late paying county property taxes for each of the past six years, according to the county tax commissioner's office.

She signed contracts with that office in November to pay her taxes in installments but then defaulted on those payment plans, county officials said. At one point last month, she bounced four checks to the tax collection office, totaling $1,310, county records show.

In an interview Monday, Kesting presented receipts showing she paid some of her taxes last month. She has hired an attorney who plans to contest her tax bill. Her attorney, Sims Gordon, argued the county is double-charging Kesting by separately taxing her for two rental units that are in one duplex.

"They overcharged me. And not only that, they are overcharging my constituents in my district," Kesting said with her husband, Christian, sitting by her side. "Thisis going to open up a can of worms."

County tax administrator Chelly McDuffie denied the county is overcharging Kesting. Even if the county sent Kesting just one bill instead of two for each of the two rental units in one building, McDuffie said, "It would be the same amount. The value would be combined. She would have one large tax bill instead of two smaller tax bills."

Meanwhile, Kesting's third duplex on Cemetary Street is facing foreclosure because she and her husband defaulted on a $90,000 loan with a mortgage company, according to a legal ad published in a local newspaper. An official with the law firm of McCurdy & Candler LLC confirmed the property is scheduled to be auctioned next month. Kesting she said she would make good on her loan before the auction.

Further, a Powder Springs Municipal Court judge ordered Kesting and her husband last month to pay $1,000 in fines for several code violations on their duplexes. Judge Stephen A. Yaklin also ordered the Kestings to repair the roofs on the buildings. Kesting said she planned to appeal the judge's ruling.

The judge's ruling came after Powder Springs officials issued notices of 23 code violations against Kesting's duplexes on April 19. The notices said Kesting must repair roofs, remove rotted wood, cut down high weeds and repaint all three structures. Her husband, Christian, said he made some repairs last year.

As one of five members of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, Kesting helps set tax rates, control local development and craft local laws. She will face at least two opponents in the Democratic primary this summer for her seat on the board, including former commissioner Woody Thompson – whom she defeated in 2004 — and political newcomer Clarice Barber-Page.