Twice-a-year tax bills likely

After paying local taxes as usual this December, Madison County residents may receive another tax bill in the mail this coming spring.

Officials are preparing for some upcoming changes to the way they collect taxes – including billing residents for half of their typical tax bill once in June and once in December. (This December, residents will pay their full tax bill amount as in the past.)

But in order to get bills out in May, the board of supervisors would need to wrap up its entire budget process by March or April – about two-three months earlier than usual. (Typically, the board approves its budget and corresponding tax rate in June every year.)

Officials are working to create a budget development calendar that would allow the supervisors to approve their budget in time to provide needed information to the treasurer and commissioner of revenue to prepare the spring tax bills.

They are also looking at the cost of making the switch, County Administrator Lisa Kelley told the supervisors at their regularly scheduled Sept. 25 workshop meeting.

“[It] would result in some additional staff time initially but the number of additional hours required we should be able to have covered by the staff we have now,” she said.

A second tax bill mailing would require additional envelopes, letters and postage – although the supervisors decision to stop using its yearly car decals would offset this extra mailing cost, Supervisors Chairman Eddie Dean said.

While developing the county’s current budget earlier this year, the supervisors discussed changing to twice-a-year billing. In July, a finance committee – created by the board of supervisors to look at ways the county can boost income and decrease tax-collection costs – also recommended that the board make this switch. 

Collecting taxes twice a year would improve cash flow to the county as well as generate extra money in interest and reduce the expense of borrowing funds, according to the committee’s report.

“I think people will like it better,” Supervisor Clark Powers said at the workshop.

The board must vote and approve an ordinance regarding the change before officials can actually start sending out tax bills semi-annually, Kelley said at the meeting.

In May, the board announced it was eliminating the use of its car decal stickers, although residents would still be billed a fee for their automobiles (including vans and sport utility vehicles), trucks, motor homes, motorcycles and travel and utility trailers.

Officials first discussed eliminating the use of decals to save the county the cost of mailing the decal notices out and save people the inconvenience of having to get the decals each year. The supervisors chairman has said it is something Madison County residents have requested.

However, county car decals serve a few purposes, including identifying residents in order to use the transfer station, which has led officials to not rid residents of stickers entirely.

Kelley suggested the board consider following what Culpeper County has done and issue a permanent decal that would allow residents to use the county’s transfer station. The first year, the decals would be issued once vehicle owners paid their personal property bills.

“They would not get another sticker until they got a new car,” Kelley said. This would save the county money from having to pay for new decals every year, she said.

Since the county recently performed a reassessment – and it will likely be at least two years before the next one – a good time to make tax bill collection changes is now, according to the county administrator.

“A reassessment is a very busy time for these offices…the time to get started is this year,” she said.