(1) The chancery clerk or municipal clerk shall report to the Secretary of State any reasonable costs incurred by the county or municipality in maintaining unredeemed lands sold for taxes while those lands remain unsold. The Secretary of State shall pay the maintenance costs out of the money deposited into the Land Records Maintenance Fund. The Secretary of State shall certify to the Department of Finance and Administration and to the State Treasurer the amount of maintenance costs allowed to the county and municipality, and the Department of Finance and Administration shall issue a warrant in favor of the county or municipality for the amount of those costs. In no event shall the maintenance costs allowed the county or municipality exceed the market value of the lands or the purchase money received from the sale of those lands, unless the potential damage to the property or any adjacent property requires the costs to exceed the market value of the lands or the purchase money received from the sale of those lands.
(2) The Secretary of State is authorized to use, upon appropriation by the Legislature, any monies deposited into the Land Records Maintenance Fund to contract with a vendor in accordance with state competitive bidding process to maintain unredeemed lands sold for taxes while those lands remain unsold and lands sold for taxes that have been certified to the state. For purposes of this section, the term “maintain” means cutting grass, trees and/or limbs, or repairing, clearing or demolishing structures and/or cleaning rubbish and debris.