TAX BILL SENT OUT BY COUNTY

JACKSON - If you owned a licensed vehicle on Jan. 1 or currently own real estate -- regardless of when it was purchased this year -- Cape Girardeau County Collector Harold Kuehle has a tax bill for you.

Whether or not it has been received, the tax bill is waiting, and after Dec. 31 it will begin collecting interest and penalty charges.

"All of our bills are out and everybody should have received a tax bill by now," said Kuehle Tuesday.

Kuehle said anyone who owned personal property on Jan. 1 or acquired real estate during the year and has not gotten a bill should contact his office right away.

Personal property bills are prepared from assessment lists that were sent out in January. So failure to receive a tax bill for personal property may be a result of failure to return the list.

In the case of real estate, Kuehle explained that his office keeps up with transfers of property as much as possible; however, the bill may have been sent to a previous owner.

"If you own a piece of real estate, regardless of when you acquired it during 1993, you need to check with us to see if you should have a tax bill," said Kuehle. "If you bought property this year, you have a tax bill coming and owe a tax."

Kuehle said he realizes many people are confused on real estate taxes because most acquire property only a few times in their lives.

"One thing we keep running into is when taxes are prorated, or when people are told there are no taxes due when the abstract is brought up to date," Kuehle said. "But what that refers to is there are no delinquent taxes on the property."

He pointed out that when real estate sells during the year, taxes are normally prorated and the difference is subtracted from the selling price at closing.

"We never accept partial payments for taxes," said Kuehle. "People need to look at closing statements. Normally, the new owner is liable for the whole tax bill."

Another reason a tax bill might not have been received is because of a change in address, the collector said. Often, someone will move and not have a forwarding address or the forwarding time has expired and the bill is returned to the collector's office.

Kuehle stressed that anyone who thinks they should have gotten a tax bill and did not needs to call his office immediately to find out whether there is a problem.

"Failure to receive a tax bill does not relieve a person of having to pay the tax or any interest and penalty that is assessed," Kuehle said.

Many homeowners have their real estate taxes in escrow accounts with financial institutions. In those cases, Kuehle explained that personal property bills were mailed along with a statement of the real estate taxes due and what institution the bill was sent to.

Kuehle is responsible for collecting about $20 million this year for various school districts and entities within the county that have property tax levies.

So far, the collector said about $2 million has been collected since bills started going out three weeks ago, which is about normal for this point in the tax collection season.

"Payments are coming in at about the normal pace, both from walk-ins and through the mail," said Kuehle.

The collector has offices in Cape Girardeau at the Common Pleas Courthouse Annex and in Jackson on the top floor of the county's administrative office building next to the county courthouse.

The phone number in Cape Girardeau is 335-2606 and the number in Jackson is 243-4476.

Both offices are open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and will be open the first three Saturdays in December from 8 a.m. until noon, beginning this weekend.

Taxes are due by midnight Dec. 31.