News

Property owners getting tax bills

By Bill Moss, Published: August 1, 2015

Property owners in Henderson County will start getting their tax bills in the mail as early as Saturday.

The Henderson County tax assessor’s office sent out 77,000 bills on Friday on real property, business personal property such as furniture and equipment and boats. Owners now pay property tax on motor vehicles when they renew their tag. Tax bills for public utilities have not yet gone out because the county has not yet received values from the state, county Tax Collector Stan Duncan said.
The mailing on the last day of the July was the earliest in many years.

"It's the earliest we've gotten them out since I've been the assessor," said Duncan, who was named to the post in 2003. “It gives people longer to pay."

The 2015-16 property tax is officially due on Sept. 1 but property owners can pay through Jan. 5 without a late charge.
The Board of Commissioners on July 15 formally adopted a resolution ordering the assessor to collect the 2015-16 taxes. Some years in the past, the board has canceled its mid-July meeting and not adopted the collection order until August. The July adoption enabled the assessor to move ahead with the collection process, which starts with the mailing. The 77,000 bills went out in a mailing of 59,000 pieces because some property owners own more than one taxable parcel.
“We’ll have a surge for a week,” Duncan said of the taxpayer traffic. “We do have some folks who when they get their bill will come in right away. Then it’ll slack off until about the first week of September.”
His appeal to taxpayers? “Come and pay early,” he said. “I don’t say pay often. I just say come and pay early.”