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01/29/2009: "SJC 2009 Property Tax Bill is $41 Million -and where does that money go?"

Wonder where all that money we send to the County twice a year goes? Wonder why they seem to keep running short each year?

Part of the reason (and only part) is that only 11% -really, only 11 cents- of each dollar of property taxes goes to the County General Fund.

As can be seen in the dollar below, the County Road Fund and the Fire Districts each take 9%. The Fire Districts, the Library, Hospital, EMS, and Parks, are all taxing districts that were approved by the voters, and each get a cut of each dollar.



("Dollar" created by SJC Communications Program Manager Stan Matthews)

The rest is a little here, and a little there, and then the big one:the State. 39% of the dollar goes to the State; something to remember when someone pushing something says “it will not cost the County anything, it will be paid for by a grant from the state.”

The County has reminded us that it is that time of the year -again- when County Treasurer Jan Sears’ department has tallied up the taxes from 17,127 taxable properties in San Juan County. Just as the dollar above partly shows, the breaking out of what goes where is time consuming to do. The calculations are complex, for the bills include levies for 43 different taxing entities within the county; many with their very own systems of rates and exemptions; but according to Sears “the bottom line, including all taxes, assessments and accrued penalties and interest is: $41,050,167.05 -an increase of $2.16 million over last year.“ Those penalties and interest accounted for $327,325.00 of that total.

State law requires tax bills to be mailed out by the 15th of February, and anyone who knows Sears, or the past Treasurers, knows when Sears says “we’ve never been late,” that she is correct.

The staff in the Treasurer’s office still puts the bills into envelopes “in-house,” she said, because “it gives us the opportunity to check for errors and special situations where we need to pull the statements for adjustments. We are also able to insert informational flyers from our taxing districts.”

Taxpayers may choose to pay half of their taxes by April 30 with the second half payable by October 31.

Penalties for missing the April 30 deadline start with a 3% penalty plus an additional 1% interest for every month the payment is late. An additional 8% penalty is tacked on if the total payment isn’t received by December.

Last year the Treasurer’s office collected 97.3% of the taxes due by the end of the year.