COUNTY TAX BILLS GOING OUT HIS WEEK

JACKSON - More than 50,000 Cape Girardeau County tax bills -- for both real estate and personal property -- should be in the hands of residents by this weekend, County Collector Harold Kuehle has announced.

Kuehle, who is launching his 27th tax collection season, said the first bills were mailed Nov. 10 and the rest are going out all this week. Tax bills for 1993 are due by Dec. 31, and Kuehle advises that anyone who has not gotten a bill by the end of November, needs to call his office at 243-4476.

Kuehle explained that the bills are being mailed about the normal time. There are 23,530 personal property tax bills and 27,643 real estate tax bills going out now. In addition, there are another 1,891 late assessments going out next week.

That group includes people who did not file their personal property assessment lists on time with the county assessor earlier this year.

When residents receive their tax bills, Kuehle suggests they open the bills immediately to make sure all the information is correct. "If there are any problems, they need to contact our office as quickly as possible," he said.

"If there is any discrepancy in the legal description, valuation, number of vehicles, or other licensed items, they need to call the assessor's office before they call us."

Tax bills not paid by Dec. 31 are subject to a 2 percent penalty and a 2 percent per month interest charge. By law, Kuehle said he is required to assess those interest and penalty charges if the bill is not paid on time, regardless of the reason.

"If people don't get a tax bill and think they should have, they need to call. Failure to get a tax bill does not relieve you of interset and penalty charges," said Kuehle.

On personal property bills, which for most people involves licensed vehicles, Kuehle points out that the 1993 tax bills are based on what was owned as of Jan. 1 of this year. If someone has sold the vehicle during the year, the tax is still due.

Also, if someone owned a vehicle Jan. 1 and did not get a bill, it is possible that an assessment list was not turned in.

On real estate, in most cases anyone who owns land now, even if it was acquired during the year, probably owes taxes on the property.

Kuehle explained that in some cases, tax bills are sent to the previous owners unless his office picked up on the transaction during the year.

He added that when there is closing on a real estate transaction, if taxes are pro-rated on the property, it is often accounted for at the time of the sale, putting the burden for paying the full tax bill on the new owner.

Another confusing point sometimes is at the time of closing when the abstract is brought up to date, it is noted that all taxes are current. But that means all taxes are current up to this year and nothing is delinquent. That does not mean they are paid up to date for this year, Kuehle noted.

The 1993 tax bills look much like last year's bills, and include an envelope to pay the bills by mail. The amount of taxes going to each entity are outlined on the bills.

Cape Girardeau city tax bills are also being included on the county tax bills again this year. Jackson city tax bills are being mailed separately by the city of Jackson.