County awaits late tax payments

If you waited until the last minute to pay your property tax bill, you weren't the only one.

As of Monday, county tax officials said they had only received half of the money billed out to the county's property owners.

In September, officials sent out 40,355 bills totaling about $50.4 million for real and personal property taxes.

This year's mail-out marked an increase from the year before, with 1,530 more bills sent out than in 2002 and $3.5 million more expected to be collected.

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While the deadline is looming, taxpayers still have a few more days to pay on time and avoid a late-payment penalty, which is mandated by state law.

To avoid the penalty, the bills must be sent to the tax commissioner's Appling office or paid in person by Friday.

After this weekend, officials will tack on a 1 percent interest fee to late bills and a 10 percent penalty 90 days after the deadline.

The tax commissioner's office's mailing address is P.O. Box 56, Appling, GA 30802, and its phone number is (706) 541-1808.

Property owners also can pay their bills online at the office's Web site: www.co.columbia.ga.us/TaxCommissioner.