Despite scare, county tax bills are in the mail

The anthrax scare won't keep tax bills away or prevent the Cape Girardeau County collector's office from opening the mail.

Local taxpayers might wish it had now that school levy hikes and reassessment have raised taxes for many of them.

In all, county taxpayers owe $37 million, most of which goes to school districts. But the real estate and personal property taxes also support cities, fire districts, senior citizen centers and other entities.

"It is up quite a bit," said county Collector Diane Diebold, whose office has mailed out 34,000 real estate and personal property tax bills since Friday.

The money owed is more than $6 million above last year's level.

Besides reassessment, which increased the taxable value of many homes and businesses, levy hikes in the Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Oak Ridge, Nell Holcomb and Meadow Heights school districts have led to higher tax bills.

In the Cape Girardeau School District, tax bills reflect a 58-cent increase approved by voters. Taxpayers in the Oak Ridge School District must deal with a 30-cent hike, and levy increases of 11 cents and 10 cents are being felt in the Nell Holcomb and Jackson school districts, respectively. There is a 24-cent levy hike in the Meadow Heights School District, but few Cape Girardeau County residents live in that school district, Diebold said.

Displeased taxpayer

Joe Burton, 61, lives at 1582 Parksite in Cape Girardeau. He is frustrated and angered by a nearly 64 percent increase in his property taxes.

Burton said he will pay $1,800 in real estate and personal property taxes combined this year, up from $1,100 a year ago. More than $1,300 will go to Cape Girardeau public schools.

Burton said reassessment and the school levy hike have hurt taxpayers at a time when the economy already is in poor shape.

"It just really ran it up," he said of his tax bill. "I am thinking very seriously about moving out of the city and the county."

The physical job of handling mailed tax payments will require extra effort this year in the face of the anthrax scare, Diebold said Wednesday. The office staff is wearing disposable gloves to handle incoming mail, and employees are washing their hands with sanitary lotion as a precaution.

"I don't want people sick," said Diebold. "Honestly, the mail is probably dirty anyway."

Return addresses urged

The anthrax scare has led Diebold to take other precautions. Cape Girardeau County taxpayers are encouraged to put their names and return addresses on the outside of the envelopes in which they send their tax payments.

"We alphabetize everything we get in here," Diebold said.

Mail that doesn't have proper return addresses will be subject to added scrutiny.

"Those that come from out of state we will scrutinize even more," said Diebold, who has received advice from postal inspectors on how to handle the mail in the face of possible bioterrorism.

The bottom line is that it will take longer to process tax payments and mail back receipts in cases where the envelopes have to undergo extra scrutiny, Diebold said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123