In November Audrain County collected $3.2 million from taxpayers. In December, that figure will skyrocket to $23 million. The reason is simple.

“No one wants to pay their taxes early,” explained county collector Kate Becker.

Personal property and real estate tax bills, along with county merchant license renewals, went out during the first week of November, continuing a process that operates like clockwork. And by the numbers everything seems clear. There are percentages levied for school districts, fire districts, county revenue and more.

Yet on the receiving end it’s not always so straightforward.

Becker says there are two questions common to every year. The first involves items on a personal property bill a person no longer owns or thought had been removed. It’s a matter to take to the Assessor’s office.

The second comes from residents who sold a home but still received a bill. That, she points out, is a deadline issue.

Taxes on personal property are assessed on Jan. 1. But the county can make changes to real estate deeds up to Sept. 1. After that it’s officially tax season. Sell a house past that deadline, the bill comes to you.

“The deeded owner is legally responsible for the tax bill,” Becker explains. “People assume we know they’ve moved.”

Homeowners who sell after Sept. 1 should tell the Recorder. The Collector’s office will then confirm the information. The office is not allowed to change the name on the bill, but can send a copy to the new owner.

The Collector’s office is charged with collecting railroad and utilities taxes, city taxes, levies from nine school districts, one to support libraries, other taxing districts approved by voters, as well as personal property and real estate bills.

Real estate taxes in Audrain County amount to $15.2 million. Utilities and railroads come to $6.7 million. There are $6.3 assessed in personal property – cars, trailers and the like. All of it gets dispersed to the proper agencies.

The county tries to make it easy to pay – online, by mail, phone, in person or via a drop box located on the square in Mexico. But there are rules the staff must follow, as well as that looming Dec. 31 deadline.

Partial payments are not accepted, even if it happens by mistake. The Dec. 31 postmark on mailed checks is an absolute. If a check is returned to the sender by the Collector’s office, it must make its way back to the post office and be stamped by that date.

And people can be careless when it comes to paying up.

“We get a lot of checks that are not signed,” Becker observed.

There are a few other common questions asked at tax time. Yes, the office will send a receipt, and does so automatically when it’s necessary for state tax forms. Yes, there is a fee for using credit or debit cards for payment. Businesses can adjust their pricing to account for the transaction fee charged by card companies, but government is a nonprofit.

Can all tax bills be paid on one check?

“Absolutely,” Becker said. “It makes our lives so much easier.”

County officials considered establishing a drive through payment method this year because of COVID-19. But staffing proved impossible.

Despite the pandemic, the tax process has not changed.

“I wasn’t sure how it would go this year,” Becker observed. “But it’s been the same.”