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54,293 Wilkes tax bills sent out
by Charles S. Williams
Wilkes County taxpayers should receive their personal property and real estate tax bills tomorrow or early next week.
According to Wilkes County Tax Administrator Alex Hamilton, 54,293 bills went into the mail today.
Hamilton said that the county is billing on a total property value of $4,938,993,209. At the new tax rate of 65 cents per $100 valuation (an increase from 57 cents), the county would collect a total of $32,103,573.91 with a 100 percent collection rate.
The 8-cent rate increase will produce an additional $3,950,000 for the county this year.
Hamilton noted that the tax base in the county increased by $35 million over the past year because of new construction in the county and an increase in business and personal property.
1.5 percent discount
Taxpayers will receive a 1.5 percent discount if they pay their property taxes, in full, during August. To receive the discount, payment must be made at the county tax office (on the second floor of the Wilkes County Office Building in Wilkesboro) by Tuesday, Aug. 31, or by mail, with an August postal service postmark. Those mailed payments go to a Charlotte address so that they can be processed and deposited in the county's bank account a day earlier than payments received here.
Payments may also be made online, but a service charge will be added to any payment made with a credit or debit card, whether online or at the tax office.
Hamilton said that the tax bills mailed out this year will include a reminder to people paying in August, printed on a separate, colored sheet of paper, to pay the discounted amount rather than the full tax bill.
"A lot of people just look at the bill and pay the amount at the bottom," he said. "That causes a problem for us. Since we are not allowed to apply the excess payment to another account or give them credit, we have to send out a refund. Also, we send money orders rather than checks. We found that, since the refund amounts are usually very small, some people didn't bother to cash the checks, and that caused problems as well."
By giving the discount, he explained, the county gets revenue from taxes earlier in the fiscal year, "and that helps our finances," he said.
The tax administrator said that taxpayers are welcome to make monthly payments on their taxes.
"They don't have to pay the full amount at one time," Hamilton said. "If they can't come up with the money and want to make monthly payments, that's great."
But if the account is not paid in full by Jan. 5, the county will begin assessing interest at the rate of 2 percent from Jan. 6-31, and three-quarters of 1 percent a month after that.
Hamilton said that August is one of the busiest months for collections at his office.
"If a bank escrows your taxes, that amount has to be paid during August," he said.
Taxpayers will receive a separate tax bill for each parcel of land in their name.
Added to the county property taxes will be an additional fire department tax rate for the 25 rural fire departments in the county. The fire tax rates (per $100 valuation) for those departments are:
Arlington, 8 cents; Austin, 7 cents; Boomer, 10 cents; Broadway, 5 cents; Brushy Mountain, 8 cents; Buck Shoals, 5 cents; Champion, 8 cents; Cricket, 10 cents; Ferguson, 11 cents; Goshen, 10 cents; Knotville, 10 cents; Little Brushy Mountains, 12 cents; McGrady, 10 cents; Millers Creek, 7 cents; Moravian Falls, 5 cents; Mountain View, 5 cents; Mulberry-Fairplains, 5 cents; Pleasant Hill, 10 cents; Roaring River, 6 cents; Shepherds Crossroads, 7 cents; State Road, 7.5 cents; Ronda, 10 cents; Traphill, 9 cents; Wilkes-Iredell, 12 cents; and Wilbar, 12 cents.
The municipal tax for towns includes money for fire departments. The municipal tax rate for towns in Wilkes are:
North Wilkesboro, 52 cents; Wilkesboro, 40 cents; Ronda, 40 cents; and Elkin, 47.5 cents. |
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