Garland County residents will have a little more time this year to pay their personal property and real estate taxes, which are due Oct. 15.
"On Oct. 14 and 15, we'll extend our office hours until 6:30 p.m. to give people more time to come in and pay," Rebecca Dodd-Talbert, tax collector, said Friday.
"This is the first time we've ever done that so people can have more time to come in," she said.
She said the deadline to pay taxes was Oct. 10, but the Arkansas County Tax Collectors Association lobbied the Legislature a few years ago to change the date to Oct. 15 because people were getting confused on the due date, and would come in on the 15th only to find out they were past due.
"With the technology we've got, we reached the point that we didn't need those extra five days," Dodd-Talbert said.
She said if mailed tax payments are postmarked by midnight Oct. 15 they will be considered as having been paid on time. Taxpayers who do not pay on time will be assessed a penalty, and their name will be included in a published list of delinquent taxpayers.
In addition to paying in person at the tax collector's office, 200 Woodbine, Room 108, or by mail, tax bills can be paid online by going to the county's website. Click on the online services tab, and then "online property and real estate tax payments," and follow the prompts. A credit card fee, which goes to the credit card company, will be assessed if tax bills are paid online," Dodd-Talbert said.
"We also have a drop box alongside the alley between our building and the senior citizens' building on a concrete pad facing the sheriff's department," Dodd-Talbert said.
Most years, she said, about 25 percent of taxpayers will pay their tax bills right after receiving their statement, and a few will trickle in the rest of the year, but about half will pay between the end of September and Oct. 15.
"I'm expecting a lot of money this month," she said.
Dodd-Talbert also said taxpayers can look at the bottom of their statement and see who gets a share of their tax dollars.
"About 90 percent of it goes to the school district in which the property is located, and a small portion goes to the Garland County Library, National Park College and the Garland County general fund to be used for the road department," she said.
Local on 10/05/2015