Treasurer fixing tax bills

From staff reports
Published: November 14, 2008

More than turkeys are getting stuffed this time of year. Many Madison County mailboxes are chock-full of multiple tax bill envelopes.

Despite local officials’ plans to send out real estate and personal property tax bills together in one envelope – this didn’t happen. Unfortunately, a company hired to send out the bills mistakenly sent out each bill within a separate envelope, according to Treasurer Stephanie Murray. (Tax payments are due by the close of business Friday, Dec. 5.)

But the treasurer assures residents that the county isn’t paying extra for the mistake.

The treasurer’s office paid about $1,670 (without the cost of postage) for the vendor to send out the bills. The cost would have been higher due to the additional envelopes used but the vendor offered to cover some of those extra costs and reduce the county’s charge, according to Murray.

“The intentions were good, things went wrong but there have been corrections made by the [outside] company,” she said.

Murray decided to use an outside vendor for this service in order to free up time for treasurer’s office employees to focus on delinquent tax collection efforts.

“The money we spent on the vendor will enable us to receive more revenue from the state debt setoff. We will be coming out further ahead on revenue,” Murray told The Eagle.

As of the end of August, Madison County had about a 2.72 percent delinquent tax rate – totaling $287,700 residents owe in delinquent taxes, the treasurer told the board of supervisors at their regularly scheduled Oct. 14 meeting.

County Attorney V.R. Shackelford III estimated this to possibly be the “best rate in the state,” he told the supervisors at the October meeting.
“Even though we have a small rate of delinquencies, I would like us to make it even smaller,” Murray said. 

Starting in November of each year, the county can submit to the state the names of local residents who are delinquent on the previous year’s taxes.
Then, when those residents file their income taxes, the county is eligible to receive any money the taxpayer may be set to receive from the state, including a tax refund or a lottery payment.

“It’s a wonderful system, it’s a good tool for us,” she said.

In the past, when treasurer’s office employees have mailed out tax bills themselves, the office has typically been unable to start submitting delinquent taxpayers’ names into the system until January or February, according to Murray.

“We stand a chance of missing revenue because some people file [income taxes] as soon as they can,” she said, adding that “there was one year [the office] didn’t get a chance to do it at all.” 

Other changes the treasurer’s office was able to accomplish this year include sending out the bills almost two weeks earlier than usual, according to Murray. This switch was in direct response to widespread requests to receive bills further in advance of the Dec. 5 deadline.

A new payment option is also available this year. Taxpayers may use a credit card to pay their local taxes either on-line at http://www.officialpayments.com or over the phone by calling 1-800-272-9829 at any time on any day of the week. To pay a tax bill using either service, taxpayers are required to provide Madison County’s “jurisdiction code,” which is 6242.

“It’s much more convenient for people, it’s been well received,” the treasurer said.

Those who would like to pay in person with either cash or check may do so during the office’s regular hours from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The treasurer’s office is in the County Administration Center at 414 N. Main Street in downtown Madison.

Payments must be done in person by the end of business Friday, Dec. 5. The county will accept mailed payments postmarked on or before Dec. 5.
If you have not yet received your tax bill in the mail, contact the Madison County Treasurer’s office by calling (540) 948-4409 or visiting the office during its normal hours.