Mechanical problems delay some tax bills in Cape, Scott and Perry counties

Property tax bills in at least three counties may arrive a bit later than they have in the past.

According to county collectors, the company contracted to assemble the massive mailing had equipment problems.

Normally, bills for Cape Girardeau County taxpayers get to the post office within the first few days of November, according to Collector Diane Diebold. Scott and Perry counties' bills are scheduled to arrive close to Veterans Day each year.

On Thursday, after Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said he had not received his bill but that his mother had received hers and already paid it, Diebold said the contractor responsible for mailing the bills, Cape Girardeau-based Commercial Mail Services Inc., had a series of mechanical breakdowns in the sorting machinery.

Since 1988 the company has provided bulk mail and other services to local governments and small businesses. The company's founder and owner, Earl Burnett, was unavailable for comment. Diebold said the company has worked for Cape Girardeau County for years without a similar problem.

The deadline to have all bills mailed is Dec. 1, she said, but most collectors send them in November to limit long lines for taxpayers and allow for an even flow of work.

Diebold said the final mailing for Cape Girardeau County was scheduled for Thursday. Her office delivered 45,000 pieces of mail -- approximately 65,000 bills -- for sorting Oct. 28. Diebold said the county typically takes in about $26 million in tax payments during November. With the intermittent mailing, her office has been getting calls from taxpayers.

"We're having to tell people to please wait so we don't have to reprint and remail them."

Scott County Collector Mark Hensley said the delay is a minor issue for his office, though it resulted in a spate of calls from people wondering when the bills would arrive.

"When you've told people who called the office [the statements] were mailed and you should get them Friday, and they don't see them, they have some concern," he said.

Scott County's 40,000 bills amounted to about 19,700 pieces of mail; Perry County sent 10,000 bills.

Hensley and Perry County Collector Rod Richardet said they understood the problem and didn't feel it would put them that far behind.

"No system is perfect," Diebold said. "I think the postal system, for the volume they do, they do a hell of a job. ... We don't mind remailing. We can give people dollar amounts over the phone."

She said Cape Girardeau County residents who have not received their bills by Tuesday should call her office at 243-4476. The Scott County collector's office can be reached at 573-545-3548; the Perry County collector's number is 573-547-4422.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646

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