“We're online with a software group out of Austin, and we're currently going through the necessary steps to calculate the tax roll and print the statements,” said Kathy Sayles, county tax collector. “This is one of the busiest times of the year for us, so we're all working just as fast as we can.

“Once the values have been certified to me, I wait for all of the entities to set the tax rate, which has to be done before the end of September. As of Oct. 1, I take the values and apply the tax rates and start the process of doing the tax rolls and printing the tax statements. This office handles tax collections for all of the entities in the area.”

Once the tax statements are printed, Sayles said her staff will begin the task of making sure they get where they are supposed to go.

“After we get the statements printed, we start stuffing envelopes and try to get them mailed out as quickly as possible,” said Sayles. “The loan companies will request their statements, and we’ll get those pulled and get those to them as well. Taxes actually become due as of Oct. 1, but we don’t get the statements really ready until several days after that.

“We print close to 36,000 statements each year. This year we’ll print about 36,000, which is up some mainly because of the mineral values. We have about 2,000 to 3,000 statements that belong to loan companies which we don’t have to mail out separately, but that still leaves about 33,000 tax statements that we have to stuff into envelopes and mail out. We just all grab a box and start stuffing. We have some people that just work with the loan companies to make sure they receive theirs, but the rest of us just get busy stuffing the envelopes.”

Sayles said taxpayers have until Jan. 31 to pay their taxes and avoid penalties and interest. After that date, things can get rather costly.

“Taxpayers have from Oct. 1 to Jan. 31 to pay their taxes without any penalties or interest,” said Sayles. “In February, the penalties will start at 7 percent (6 percent penalty, 1 percent interest), and increases each month.”

The tax penalty and interest schedule is as follows: After Jan. 31, 6 percent penalty and 1 percent interest; after Feb. 28, 7 percent penalty and 2 percent interest; after March 31, 8 percent penalty and 3 percent interest; after April 30, 9 percent penalty and 4 percent interest; after May 31, 10 percent penalty and 5 percent interest; and after June 30, 12 percent penalty and 6 percent interest, including an additional 20 percent attorney fee.

“Right now it's just too early to say when we'll be able to start mailing out the tax statements,” said Sayles. “I'm hoping we can get a better idea soon, but I'd hate to give a date I'm not sure of. Once people receive their tax statement, if they have a question we hope they’ll call us. We want to make this process as easy for everyone as we possibly can.”

The Howard County Tax Collector’s Office can be reached at 264-2232.

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it