AUGUSTA — Less than two weeks before the first installment of property taxes is due, Augusta officials have yet to get tax bills into the mail.
Because of technical problems following an upgrade to the software system used to process tax bills, the city has been unable to mail tax bills to property owners. That would usually take place in August, well ahead of the Sept. 14 deadline for the first of two installments to be paid.
Instead, officials expect to mail tax bills by Tuesday, which, depending on how quickly some property owners receive their mail, could leave some taxpayers with less than a week’s notice that half of their property taxes are due.
And the city has no plans to delay the due date for taxes or to delay charging interest on any unpaid taxes, interest that City Manager Susan Robertson said begins accruing the day after the due date of Thursday, Sept. 14.
Robertson and Jared Mills, the assistant city manager, deputy tax collector and police chief, said taxpayers can call the city’s tax office at 207-626-2310 to find out how much they owe. The city accepts tax payments – even if property owners do not have a bill – by mail, online by debit or credit card or in person.
“Most taxpayers are aware of the normal timeframe since it has been this way for many years,” Mills said Friday. “I certainly understand that we are providing a shorter turnaround for people to pay their tax bill. We do not plan to delay charging interest if paid late.”
Officials said city staff members have worked for hours with the software company to finally be able to get out the real estate and personal property tax bills. Mills said the tax software was upgraded during the time the city usually commits and processes the tax bills and there were a few technical difficulties in the billing process. He said city officials had expressed concerns about the timing of the upgrade, but were assured there would be no issues and the upgrade would not affect the city’s ability to send out tax bills.
Mills said the upgrade was to the city’s Munis Software system. He said before the upgrade, another city tax software system, Vision, was compatible with Munis and was able to send the tax information to Munis to generate the bills.
When Munis was upgraded, the two were no longer compatible, so the city had to work with both companies to make them compatible again, he said.
Mills said the tax office has been busy answering many telephone calls, emails and faxes from those inquiring about their tax bills. He said the office has the amounts due and has been busy processing payments for the past couple of weeks.
Augusta has a tax club, available to taxpayers who are current on their taxes, that allows property owners to pay their taxes over 10 months without interest, as long as they make the monthly payments on time.
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