County treasurer speaks with village board
By admin on Aug 24, 2010 in Uncategorized
Madison County Treasurer Frank Miles sends out the property tax bills and collects the property tax receipts.
To many people, then, he is tax man.
Miles, however, isn’t and he explained his role and that of his office to members of the Maryville Board of Trustees at its meeting Wednesday.
Miles took over the post in December when Fred Bathon retired after a lengthy career in county politics.
One of the first things Miles did when assuming the office was embark on an educational journey that has taken him around the county.
“Since I’ve entered this office, we’ve been out to literally hundreds of meetings – village boards, city councils, Rotary clubs, Lions clubs, Optimists clubs, senior centers and various organizations –? with one purpose: to educate and inform the taxpayers and taxing districts of Madison County,” he said.
And on those trips, the question Miles hears most is, “Can you lower my taxes?”
“When I tell people I’m the Madison County Treasurer, they want me to lower their taxes,” Miles said. “I am the treasurer and collector of funds for Madison County. I’m responsible for preparing and mailing all of the tax bills. People make their property taxes out to me, that’s why they think I can lower their property tax.”
Miles can’t, of course, lower taxes, but his office can point residents in the direction they need to go.
“I’m not responsible for assessing property values, I don’t approve exemptions, I don’t notify taxpayers whether or not their assessment changes, I don’t set the tax rate or approve local taxing districts’ budgets, deal with multipliers or get involved in the tax appealing process,” Miles said.
His office does mail out the annual tax bills and tries to get that task accomplished each year between early May and early June.
Once that job is complete, his office is then responsible for collecting property tax revenues.
Miles said there are a number of options available to county residents for paying their taxes.
Payments can be brought to his Edwardsville office in person, direct withdrawals can be made from checking or savings accounts or payments can be made at one of 115 banks in Madison County.
Miles said payments can be made in one installment, two installments or four installments.
In addition, some residents opt to have their taxes estimated against last year’s and then pay monthly.
“It’s very similar to budget billing that the power company offers,” Miles said.
“This program is very popular with seniors in Madison County. We’ve got about 1,600 seniors in the program.”
Miles said the four-installment option has proven both popular and effective as the tax delinquency rate dropped by 21 percent last year.
Miles said the Treasurer’s Traveling Help Desk was set up at Maryville Homecoming earlier this summer and pointed a handful of seniors toward tax exemptions they were unaware of.
Miles passed out three brochures to village board members and others in attendance: “Appealing Your Property Tax Assessment,” “Monthly Payment Plan” and “Real Estate Property Tax Cycle.”
Those brochures and other information are available by contacting the Madison County Treasurer’s Help Desk at 692-6260.
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