Time to pay your share of $92.5 million

The numbers from the Columbia County tax office are a hefty chunk.

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Monday morning, the office will drop 53,392 bills in the mail for this year's taxes. The county's property owners will have three months to come up with $92,469,863 to fund the government.

When it's time to pay on Nov. 15, taxpayers can't just say "the check is in the mail." Unlike the feds, Columbia County won't accept a postmark as proof the bill has been paid on time. "All tax payments due to the Columbia County Tax Commissioner's Office must be IN THE OFFICE by the deadline," screams an announcement from the local chapter of Bureaucrats R Us.

But the new extended-hours Evans Express branch of Georgia Bank and Trust has nothing on Columbia County's tax office for convenience. You can pay with a credit card online at the county's Web site. You can pay over the phone by calling 1-866-381-4893. Or you can put your payment in drive-up or drop boxes at the government complex.

And if you're the adventuresome sort, the kind who likes living on the edge, you can still put a check in the mail. Chances are pretty good that the same U.S. Postal Service that so reliably brought you that bill also will reliably deliver your payment for it.

As for coming up with the money for your share of that $92 million? You're on your own.