Sunday Tax Deadline is Trouble for Some

By Jacob Luecke, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Jan. 17–Knowing his property taxes were due before midnight on New Year’s Eve, lifelong Boone Countian Dale Cornelison did what he does every year: He dropped his payment off at the post office a few hours before the deadline.

Cornelison, 74, was surprised when a few days later he received a notice from the Boone County Collector’s Office that his payment was late, and he was being charged a $57 fee.

“If you do it on time, it should be on time,” Cornelison said.

The problem is that New Year’s Eve in 2006 fell on a Sunday, when the post office was closed. Cornelison’s letter didn’t get processed on Sunday or Monday, a federal holiday for New Year’s Day.

It was Jan. 2 by the time Cornelison’s payment got stamped with a postmark and was sent up the street to the Boone County Government Center.

State statutes say the postmark date is key for county collectors when doling out late fees. The Boone County Collector’s Office saw an uptick in late payments this year simply because of how the last day of the year fell on a day when the post office wasn’t open.

“When the calendar hits this way, we know that we’re going to have a few more people that don’t get that postmark when they should,” said Pat Lensmeyer, Boone County collector.

Cornelison said he thought more should have been done to warn him to turn his payment in earlier this year.

“I thought it was kind of a shabby way to run a business,” he said. “They should have informed the public that if you mail it on time, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be on time.”

But Lensmeyer said she did everything she could — she took out multiple advertisements in newspapers around the county and even went on the radio to tell people to turn in payments earlier this year. She also has a drop box for payments at the county government center that she personally empties just after the new year begins.

“I do what I can to try to get the word out to get people to think about it,” Lensmeyer said. “But every year there are going to be a few people that just don’t recognize the fact that they need to get it in well before Dec. 31.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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