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The Barrow County Tax Office was buzzing Dec. 16, the Friday before the Dec. 20 deadline for timely payment of county ad valorem taxes, and at the close of the Dec. 21 business day, more than $37 million in taxes had been received.
According to Tax Commissioner Melinda Williams, Dec. 16 was very busy for employees of the tax office, and on the following Monday, the office was also doing brisk business as tax payments were still coming in without interest as the deadline day fell on Sunday.
On Friday, a number of big tax check-writers added to the county coffers, including utilities and Harrison Poultry representing nearly half a million alone, said Williams.
On Monday, right at $3 million in taxes was paid, and Monday was also a good volume mail day.
As of Dec. 21, the local tax office had collected a total of $13,047,156.09, including funds collected for street light assessments, stormwater fees and county maintenance and operation (M&O).
Collected for Barrow County Schools as of Dec. 21 was a total of $23,462,517.10 with another $773,841.93 collected on behalf of the City of Winder. Barrow County collects and disperses taxes to the school district and the fire tax to Winder, with a percentage retained for that collection handling.
"We have gotten in the biggest part of our taxes," said Williams. "I am tickled. We are not doing bad with nearly 83 percent collected."
Some counties had projected lower timely property tax collection percentage because of the economy and the number of properties in foreclosure.
"Some people wait every year until right before the 90th day to pay their taxes," said Williams.
When tax bills have not been paid by the due date, interest and penalties are assessed. Those taxpayers apparently don’t mind paying the additional percent interest or they are waiting for their income tax check to arrive and use those funds to pay their property taxes.
When Barrow County’s bottom line was low in early 2009 as the economy slumped in the wake of the banking industry dilemma, the area’s lingering unemployment, ongoing foreclosure action and skepticism about the turnaround, county commissioners began pointing to unpaid property taxes as one of the sources of the county’s financial crunch in addition to the double-digit decline in sales tax collections.
Barrow County Schools financial staff is likely to consider tax collections on its behalf as good year-end news as Williams said her office had been getting frequent phone calls inquiring about ad valorem tax receipts which could be deposited into the schools’ account.
