The Garland County tax collector and assessor's offices will be open until 6:30 p.m. Monday for residents waiting until the last minute to pay their 2017 real and personal property taxes.
Missing the deadline incurs a 10-percent late penalty. Per statute, county tax collectors have to send delinquent taxpayer lists to newspapers by Dec. 1. Delinquent property can be certified to the state land commissioner's office if payments are not received within a year of the deadline, allowing the state to auction off the property if it is unable to collect back taxes and penalties.
Payments mailed to the tax collector's office at 200 Woodbine St., Suite 108, postmarked after Monday will be considered delinquent. Checks can also be deposited into the tax collector's 24-hour drop box behind the Garland County Government Office Building.
Credit card payments can be made by calling 866-257-2055, and there is a link on the county website, http://www.garlandcounty.org, to pay online using a credit card. The link is under the tax collector's payment options tab. Online payments have to be received by Monday at 11:59 p.m. to avoid delinquency, and a convenience fee is assessed on all credit card payments.
The tax collector's office said credit card payments take three to five days to process and will not be accepted from Tuesday through the middle of next month. Checks are not accepted for payment of delinquent taxes.
The tax collector's office said it mailed 66,640 tax bills in February totaling $86 million for the 2017 tax year. It had collected $61.7 million as of earlier this week. The taxes are applied to 20 percent of the appraised value of property, with that value multiplied by the millage rate the various taxing entities levy in their respective districts.
Most of the proceeds support local schools. Garland County and Hot Springs respectively levy 1.2 and 2.6 mills for their general funds. Lonsdale and Mountain Pine levy 1.6 and 5 mills for their general funds. The county library levies 1.6 mills, and National Park College levies eight-tenths of a mill.
Local on 10/13/2018