Despite all the obstacles that 2020 presented, Jefferson County’s property tax collection went smoothly.
Collector Michelle Worth said her office has been wrapping up processing payments sent by mail to the office, but the end-of-the-year rush was not a hassle.
After her office mailed out 197,658 notices to residents and businesses in November, Worth said she was concerned the COVID-19 pandemic would throw a monkey wrench – or several wrenches – into the proceedings.
As it turned out, the Jefferson County Administration Center in Hillsboro, which houses the Collector’s Office, remained open to the public through the holidays, albeit with social-distancing measures in place and restrictions on how many people were allowed into the building at one time.
“While some of the other offices in the building have had employees with cases of COVID, so far, we’ve been fortunate,” Worth said.
“That could have wiped us out at the busiest time of the year.”
The apex of that busy time is Dec. 30 and Dec. 31, when long lines of people regularly descend on the county seat in an apparent bid to pay their taxes at the last possible moment.
“You’d think New Year’s Eve would be the biggest day, but it’s actually Dec. 30 because a lot of people aren’t sure how late we are open on Dec. 31,” Worth said.
She said it’s difficult to compare this year’s last-second rush with previous years because of the coronavirus restrictions.
“Every other year, there would be a long line down the hallway,” she said. “That wasn’t allowed this year – there were restrictions on how many people could be in the building at once, so people waited outside, and when someone left, someone else could come in.”
Worth said a drop box installed in the front of the building in mid-December helped speed things along.
“I would say on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31, we had at least 400 people who were waiting in line see the drop box and just put their payments in there,” she said. “The people at the table (in the front of the building) taking temperatures also guided people to the drop box.”
Particularly noticeable this time around was a dramatic increase in the number of taxpayers who paid their dues online.
“Online payments were up about 22 percent over last year,” Worth said. “That’s about 5,000 more than in the past. That helped us out in so many ways. A few years ago, we would still be processing mailed-in payments into the third week of January.”
Those who forgot to mail, pay online or make the trek to Hillsboro to pay in person can still remit their property tax payments – but there will be a cost.
“If you haven’t paid yet, look at the bottom of your statement, and it will tell you how much you need to pay if you haven’t paid by a certain date. You can pay that amount either online, by sending it in or by coming into the office.”
For information, call the Collector’s Office at 636-797-5406 or send an email to collector@jeffcomo.org.