Tax bills delayed

Software change leads to input error

Property tax bills for Putnam County will be delayed this spring due to technology issues.

Auditor Stephanie Campbell has told the Commissioners there will not be a May 10 tax deadline, and a new deadline has not been set.

It is unknown if the distribution of property taxes to government entities will also be delayed past the usual June 30 disbursement.

Both the county auditor and treasurer offices have been getting calls from the public asking if tax bills had been lost in the mail, when the bills would be received, or if taxes are going up this year, Campbell told commissioners Kristina Warren, Jim Baird and Gene Beck.

"This is an unusual year with law changes, so I felt I needed to give everyone and update on the certification of assessed values to the state," she said. "The assessor/real estate department did roll values to the auditor's office six weeks ago. There was a six-month delay in the rollover due to trending. We have been working on and have completed data entering all the exemptions. This has been a very difficult rollover."

Campbell explained that a change in computer software for the assessor's office resulted in some efforts that must be manually corrected. And because that software is not compatible with the auditor's computer system, the information must now be re-entered into the auditor's system.

Campbell did say the process should be completed by the end of this week, and that information will then be sent to the state. But it could take four to six weeks for the state to get the information processed and approved so the county can begin issuing the tax bills.