Like it or not, tax bills are out.

That’s the word from Butler County Tax Collector Belle Peavy

&uot;We sent the tax notices out on Oct. 1,&uot; said Peavy.

&uot;We mailed out 9,954 notices.&uot;

Peavy said property owners have until Dec. 31 to pay without penalty or interest.

If the New Year dawns and the taxes haven’t been paid, then get ready for some extra funding.

Also, notices were mailed to manufactured home dwellers that do not own the property where it is parked.

&uot;All manufactured homes must have a decal,&uot; she said.

&uot;One decal is for those who own the land and also own the home.

A different decal is for those who owns manufactured homes on someone else’s land.&uot;

Peavy said she was afraid collections would be slow after Hurricane Ivan hit, but was surprised to see a steady stream of citizens.

&uot;There have been more than I anticipated,&uot; she said.

&uot;There will always be some people who want to pay on the first and there will always be some who want to pay on the last day.&uot;

Down the hall in Tax Assessor Carolyn Middleton’s office, they are already at work on assessing the taxes for the next year.

She explained that the notices sent out on Oct. 1 are for the tax year Oct. 1, 2003 to Sept. 30, 2004.

She said this year the total assessed taxes on property in the county exceeded $4.5 million.

Now it’s time for her to think about the next year.

&uot;We have already started over on next year’s taxes,&uot; she said.

&uot;We’re working just as hard on that as Belle and her staff are working trying to collect owed taxes now.

We don’t have any down time.&uot;

Both county officials said it has been a tremendous help to their offices with the One-Stop tag system being put in place.

Newcomers may think it is quite an easy task now, but you once had to visit the tax assessor, tax collector and finally the probate judge to buy one tag.

&uot;That took a big workload off of us, and with that we have more time to spend on personal and commercial property assessments,&uot; Middleton said.

&uot;It is an asset to us because we have that additional time.&uot;

Peavy agreed that the extra time is welcomed, but she said she is a bit nostalgic for the times past when everyone had to stop in her office.

&uot;We miss seeing everybody, because with the car tags, everyone had to come in,&uot; she said.

&uot;But now, the majority of the property taxes are paid by mail.&uot;

Either paid in person or by mail, make no mistake; it’s time to pay your taxes.