Franklin County property tax bills late, deadline extended to Jan. 31
After a COVID-related, problem-plagued 2021, Franklin County property tax collections are being delayed again this year.
The deadline for property owners to pay their bills for either the full year or the first-half of the year has been pushed back from Jan. 20 to Jan. 31. Bills will be mailed out starting late this week, said Bob Vitale, spokesperson for the Franklin County Treasurer’s office.
Payments made or postmarked on or after Feb. 1 will be assessed a penalty and interest, the office says. Ohio law allows for the extension of the due date when delivery of the tax duplicate has been delayed,” the treasurer’s website states.
Why are property tax bills so late?
The Ohio Department of Taxation asks counties to submit final “tax rate abstracts” with all supporting documentation by mid-November, but in reality the dates they actually submit them are “all over the board,” including into December, said department spokesman Gary Gudmundson.
While the actual deadline in the Ohio Revised Code is Sept. 1, that “has obviously not been practical” because voters can change millage amounts with new levies through early November.
In other words, if the law were followed, new tax bills with the correct information might have to be sent out immediately after the old ones were already mailed to property owners, said Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano.
Stinziano said he and most county auditors believe it is less confusing and certainly less costly to send out the correct information once, even if an automatic extension of a couple weeks is needed, which is allowable by law.
“It’s an integrated, complicated, bureaucratic process,” and one that involves multiple counties being on time with the needed millage information if school districts and other taxing zones cross county lines, Stinziano said.
He said his office didn’t have all the needed certifications from surrounding counties until Dec. 6, which was “the only real delay in the timing” for his office.
The County Treasurer’s office, which sends out the tax bills, received the final rate information on Dec. 27, a week later than the target date, Vitale said in an email. It calculated tax bills and posted them online on Dec. 29, also a week later than targeted, he said.
School districts, the main recipients of the property tax, can be advanced part of their collection if delays present a cash-flow issue, Stinziano’s office said.
This is the second year in a row that property tax bills have been delayed.
The Dispatch reported in late December 2020 that the Franklin County Treasurer and Auditor’s offices were unsure when county residents could expect to know their 2021 property tax rates and bills, hindering those who look to pay all or some of their 2021 taxes early before the end of this year so they can deduct the property taxes on their 2020 federal income tax returns.
Last year, county officials blamed the state’s review process for taking too long. But the state pointed a finger back, saying Franklin County filed later than expected.
For 2022, Gudmundson said 87 of Ohio’s 88 counties received their certified tax rates back from the state by Dec. 30, 2021, with only Perry County still without that information by the end of last year,
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