From the Evansville Courier & Press:
For Posey County, Senate Bill 275 would create more desk time for its treasurer’s office.
The proposal would mandate that taxpayers make monthly payment plans for property taxes.
“If the bill passes, we would have to enlarge our staff and our budget,” Posey County Treasurer Chris Harp said. “I would rather keep it the way it is.”
Now, Posey County has a 30-day grace period, and if the taxes aren’t turned in by November, it would cost 10 percent for the whole six months, Harp said.
“If a person owes $350 in May, and they pay it off in November — they would only pay an additional $35,” she said. “I think we give them a great break as it is.”
She said three-fourths of Posey County taxpayers pay by escrow anyway.
“I’ve only been here a month, but from what I’ve seen our taxpayers pay on time,” Harp said. “It sounds good but for our small budget and office, it would just be additional work.”
Under the current state law, any taxpayer can ask for a payment plan, but the treasurer’s office doesn’t have to approve it.
Cindy Land, administrative deputy of the Marion County treasurer’s office, said the bill is right for Marion County.
“We’re at a point where we just need to make more options available to tax payers,” Land said. “Some of these (other county) offices only have two people in the treasurer’s office,” she said.
Warrick County doesn’t have two people. It has five, Patricia Brooks said. But the Warrick County Treasurer said the monthly payment plans would create an additional workload for the small staff.
“We have a tremendous workload with the different things we do,” Brooks said. “I do not have the staff.”
She said she wants to provide public services but there are limitations.
“We would have to work additional hours with such a proposal,” Brooks said.
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See the full article here:
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/feb/02/smaller-counties-opposing-property-tax-proposal/
