April 30 property tax deadline looms

EPHRATA — Poet T.S. Eliot said that April is the cruelest month.

And it probably seems that way to a fair number of Grant County landowners. No sooner has the mid-April deadline to file and pay federal tax returns passed then the April 30 deadline to pay at least the first installment of Grant County property taxes is looming.

According to Grant County Treasurer Darryl Pheasant, all property taxes are due on April 30, but property owners can avoid taxes and penalties if they pay at least half their tax bill in April, with the remainder due on Oct. 31.

“If you are sending your payment by mail, please make sure your envelope is postmarked on or before April 30 to avoid being considered delinquent,” he said.

There is a drop box for tax payments outside the Grant County Courthouse, and there is another dropbox in the Treasurer’s Office. The county is also taking payments online.

Pheasant also reminded taxpayers to make sure that “all parcels that you intend to pay were included on your statement.”

Pheasant said his office has a collection rate of around 98.5 percent. Of the roughly 60,000 parcels in Grant County, Pheasant said that only about 700 are in some type of foreclosure proceedings.

In order to go into foreclosure, taxes on a parcel must be unpaid for at least three years. Pheasant said the properties his office is starting foreclosure on this year have unpaid taxes going back to at least 2015.

“That’s a lot of years to be delinquent,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.