Let’s Talk: Paying Real Estate, Mobile Home taxes
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At a glance:
¯ 2020 Real Estate and Mobile Home taxes are due March 12 in Washington County.
¯ Tax bills will be mailed on Monday.
¯ The office hours for the Washington County Treasurer's Office are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
¯ The office accepts payments in person, in the dropbox at the courthouse, by mail and online. See the end of this story for specific requirements for each option.
Property taxes, formulas and how to stay or catch up to current bills can be a challenge to understand.
"If you're proactive about it, we can wrestle it a lot quicker than if you wait until you get the bill and then … there's nothing that makes me feel so hopeless than someone coming in here, upset and just not having the money to pay that first half … it just cuts me deep," said Washington County Treasurer Tammy Bates. "I feel the struggle, I feel the pain. I feel the helplessness and I just want to help."
Incorrect and mixed information about bills and payments due in March in Washington County ran in the Jan. 29 edition of the Times.
"We've been getting calls since we opened, people are confused," said Bates on Friday. "They're asking if they can still come in and pay, can they pay with a money order?"
The short answer to both questions, yes.
Friday, Bates reviewed what is due on March 12 ahead of the first half of 2020 Real Estate and Mobile Home tax bills to be mailed Monday.
To hear Bates expand on these topics in greater detail, including checking on your escrow company, press play below, or keep scrolling to read along.
What is this tax?
"When you purchase a mobile home or real estate, you are required by law to pay taxes on those items," Bates explained.
She noted that when utilizing a mortgage or escrow payment option on property sometimes this tax is included in one's bill to the bank.
When do I consent to this taxation?
Bates said when you purchase or inherit the property/land/home or mobile home.
What obligation as a property owner do I have?
"The tax lasts forever as long as you own the property or the mobile home, it, it doesn't stop when you pay your mortgage, it doesn't stop when you hit a certain age," explained Bates.
She said one misconception her office has to refute is from older property owners.
"(Some people say) they were told that once they hit 65 that they no longer had to pay this tax, and that is incorrect," she explained. "It just is a tax that goes on as long as the property or the mobile home is in Washington County."
Where does the money go?
"The biggest chunk of that goes to the schools," said Bates.
She explained that most of what appears on the property tax bill is based on levies that have been passed by a vote in the past that will continue to impact that parcel.
"So it could be 911, the county home, the county library," she listed. "You have your townships, your fire departments … It all adds up. Now, on everybody's individual bill it specifies on a pie chart exactly where your taxes are going."
How often is a property owner billed?
The timing of billing also is directed with a mindset of budgetary predictability.
"They are billed twice a year," said Bates. "We try to keep it the second Friday of March as a due date and the second Friday of August."
How can I lower my bill?
Remove dilapidated or unused buildings.
"If you (have) a garage, that is barely hanging in there and you're still being taxed for it," Bates offered as an example. "If you demo it of course that will bring your taxes down."
Review with the Washington County Auditor's Office to determine if you qualify for any of the legal discounts.
"The tax rates are determined by the state, which we have no control over, and the auditor has no control over," Bates noted.
One discount that may be available is called the homestead exemption.
According to the Ohio Department of Taxation, the homestead exemption allows low-income senior citizens and those who are permanently and/or totally disabled Ohioans, to reduce their property tax bills, by shielding some of the market value of their homes from taxation.
I'm behind, what are the consequences if I don't pay?
"Well, the first consequence is your name gets published in the paper," said Bates, speaking of the delinquent tax notice printed in The Marietta Times. "Now if you're delinquent for two consecutive years then your information is then turned over to the prosecutor's office which gives them the right to then foreclose on the property."
I'm behind, how can I catch up?
"We have three different delinquent payment plans," explained the treasurer. "We have the old school payment plans that we've had for decades, which is the five pay, and the 10 pay."
Five-pay: The office calculates one-fifth of the total delinquency and those portions are added to the current semi-annual bill cycle.
Fastest pay-off: 2.5 years if the current bills are also paid in full.
10-pay: The office calculates one-tenth of the total delinquency and those portions
Fastest pay-off: five years if the current bills are also paid in full.
But those options aren't the easiest for everyone, she said.
"I found it very difficult for people to pay their current much less one fifth or one-tenth, twice a year,(on top of the current bill)," she explained. "So when I took over office, that's when I decided to provide a monthly payment plan, and that I would allow the taxpayer to let me know what they could afford, because I don't know their finances and it's none of my business, what their finances are. I just want to do what I can to keep them current with their taxes, because that's my job."
Monthly delinquent payment
"The first time we let you set the amount (per payment) as long as it doesn't exceed five years (delinquency)," she explained.
That back-pay is due on the second Friday of each month until the bill is no longer delinquent.
"Again, consistency," she said.
But there's a three-strike rule, too. Bates explained to opt for the monthly delinquent repayment option, a contract must be signed between the office and the property owner.
"It's very important for you not to obligate yourself to a payment plan unless you're going to see it through," she said.
If a payment is missed, that's a strike against the contract and a penalty is imposed.
The first strike: "We will allow you to get back on the contract that you have to pay, pay 25 percent of the total delinquency to get back on at that time," she said.
Additional missed payments on delinquency then increase that penalty.
Can I spread out my payments so that I don't get behind?
"We have a prepaid plan for current taxes," said Bates. "And what I recommend is to spread those payments out over an 11-month period starting in September, so that your last payment is actually made on the (final) due date of (the following) August."
This is called prorating the bill based off of a rounded assumption of what will be due.
"If anything is paid over, it goes in for the prepaid plan for the next year," she explained. "I would rather you budget for too much than not enough … I think if you just get in the routine of budgeting period, you'll never lose your home with, you'll never be on the prosecutor's list."
With the pandemic, I'm not comfortable going inside the courthouse to pay like in past years, how do I pay without exposing myself or others to coronavirus?
"You can still pay it through the mail," said Bates.
There are four ways to pay; in-person during office hours, by utilizing the dropbox behind the courthouse on Second Street, by mail and online.
Real estate and mobile home payments can be made:
1. In person during office hours via cash, check, money order or card.
¯ To keep a receipt without an additional $1 reprinting fee, bring the entire bill to the office, including the top and the bottom pay stub.
2. By dropbox only via check or money order.
¯ The box is available on Second Street at the old Chase Bank entrance behind the Washington County Courthouse
¯ To have a receipt mailed back to you, enclose the entire bill with your payment including the top and the bottom pay stub along with a stamped envelope with your address on it.
3. By mail via check or money order.
¯ To have a receipt mailed back to you, enclose the entire bill with your payment including the top and the bottom pay stub along with a stamped envelope with your address on it.
4. Online payments are available at washingtongov.org/treasurer for credit/debit cards or electronic check (account and routing numbers).
¯ No more than 10 parcels can be processed in one transaction. Processing fees for a second transaction will be re-applied.
¯ Credit/debit transactions include a 2.75 percent additional processing fee on the amount charged, with a limit per card transaction of $11,000.
¯ Electronic check transactions will include a $1 flat fee to process, with a limit of $5,000 per transaction.
Note: Multiple transactions are able to be processed.
For questions concerning pre-pay plans or delinquent payment plans contact the office at 740-373-6623, option 3, then option 2.
Janelle Patterson may be reached at jpatterson@mariettatimes.com.