Crawford County residents have just a few weeks before their first-half real estate and personal property taxes come due.
County Treasurer Joe Grisolano said that Dec. 21 is the first of two due-dates for county taxpayers to submit their taxes to the county for distribution.
“They can pay their taxes at once if they want to, but the Legislature set up the statute that people can pay half now and half in May [10], which is when the second half is due,” Grisolano said.
The December deadline was extended by one day because of the fact that Dec. 20 — the normal deadline day — is on a Sunday. Taxes are now due on Dec. 21.
The treasurer’s office distributes the taxes collected to the various taxing entities on Jan. 20 — first of five distributions over the course of the year.
The taxes collected from Nov. 1 to the end of the year are redistributed on that Jan. 20 date.
The remaining distributions come from late taxes collected from the first half or early collections for the second-half deadline.
“It is usually our biggest distribution because of the fact that people do pay a little more in the first half tax deadline,” Grisolano said.
June 5 is the distribution date for delinquent taxes from previous years as well as current years.
“The distributions are important because it helps keep those taxing entities going,” Grisolano said.
According to figures from the treasurer’s office, the total tax collection estimates for 2009 is approximately $30 million, while in 2008 that the total tax collection was just over $31 million.
“Tax revenues are slightly lower than they were last year,” Grisolano said. “County-wide, the assessed value was down.”
The county-wide assessed valuation went down 3.07 percent, or from $240,869,787 in 2008 to $235,416,197 in 2009.
Of the 2009 figures, Grisolano said that he anticipated distributing approximately $16 million for the Jan. 20 distribution.
“We still have a lot of collecting to do, but if it washes out like it did last year, that is about the figure we should distribute,” Grisolano said.
First-half payments can be dropped off at the treasurer’s motor vehicle satellite office inside the Crawford County Judicial Center, 602 N. Locust, or at the treasurer’s office at the Crawford County Courthouse in Girard.
Payments can also be mailed to the Crawford County Treasurer, P.O. Box 96, Girard, Kan. 66743.
Persons with questions about real estate or personal property taxes may contact the Crawford County Treasurer’s office at 620-724-8222.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140
