County tax bills are in the mail
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 16, 2011 1:50 AM
The Wayne County Tax Office Tuesday mailed out about 70,000 tax bills that residents can expect to find in their mailboxes over the next few days.
The bills are for both county and municipal taxes.
Tax bills are normally mailed in late August or early September. However, the mailing was delayed because power outages caused by Hurricane Irene shut down the county's computers used to prepare the mailings.
People have until Jan. 5 to pay their taxes without interest. Interest does not begin on unpaid bills until Jan. 6. Starting on that date, the penalty is 2 percent for January and there is an additional three-fourths of a percent added on the first of each following month.
There are several payment options.
People may mail in their payment, pay at the tax office on the first floor of the county courthouse annex or use a drop box located on Ormond Avenue next to the annex.
Payments that are mailed must have a U.S. postmark of no later than Jan. 5 to be considered "on time."
Postmarks made by office postal machines do not qualify.
The bill also may be paid online. However, there is an additional fee associated with paying online. The county does not receive any of that fee.
Taxpayers residing outside of a municipality will see a change in the solid waste fee that is included on the bill.
Wayne County commissioners dropped that rate from $60 to $45 per household.
The difference is that now everyone living outside of a municipality has to pay it. In the past, the fee was waived if residents provided proof they were using a private hauler that was licensed by the county.