LEWISBURG -- Not everyone is happy with Union County's new twice-a-year tax billing. A handful of tax collectors met with commissioners Tuesday to express their frustration with the new system.

Problems stem from the fact that bills were inadvertently sent to many people who are no longer required to pay taxes, some bills have just vanished and changes in the way the county handles payments from lenders or other escrow accounts.

The county recently instituted the twice-a-year system in an effort to save money. It is estimated that the county could save approximately $86,000 by billing twice. The first cycle bills for county and township taxes, the second cycle is for school taxes. The first wave of bills was sent out over the last few days.

According to Gary Kleppinger, the tax collector for East Buffalo Township, approximately 514 more bills were sent out in East Buffalo this year then last year. He said the majority of those were bills for the per capita tax, and they went to people over 70. The township does not require people over 70 to pay the per capita tax.

"How could this have gotten so messed up?" asked East Buffalo Township supervisor Lawson Fetterman. "We're looking at a 17 percent billing error and whole lot of angry constituents."

Kleppinger said he has fielded angry phone calls ever since the bills started to be mailed out. If people pay the tax it has to be refunded and so his workload has greatly increased.

"What kind of planning is this?" he asked.

He said he doesn't have the information to deal with a lot of the questions he has been asked and said he would like to see more communication between the tax collectors and county officials. He said people who think they may be exempt from paying the per capita tax should call the township clerk at 523-6320 with questions. As a rule, residents over 70 are not required by the township to pay the per capita tax and for the school district, residents over 80 are not required to pay.

Another change this year is the fact that tax collectors don't necessarily have to send tax bills to banks or other institutions that hold money in escrow for taxes. That means many people who have not traditionally gotten a bill might get one this year. It is their responsibility to make sure the bill gets to the lender, Kleppinger said.

The problems are not limited to East Buffalo Township. West Buffalo Township tax collector Bob Bilger said 287 of his tax bills have simply disappeared. No one is quite sure what exactly has happened to the missing bills, but Chief Assessor Esther Herman assured Bilger that replacement bills were being prepared and should be mailed out by the end of the week. He also told commissioners that many of the bills he does have are incorrectly addressed and that he is taking the time to correct the mistakes but the corrections mean that many of the bills will go out late, reducing the amount of time taxpayers have to pay during the rebate period. In an effort to solve his problem, the board of commissioners granted tax collectors the power to extend the rebate period for a full 60 days from the time they mailed the bill regardless of the post mark. Tax collectors will make the decision on a case by case basis.

"We're going to make this work out," said Commissioner W. Max Bossert.

Lewis Township tax collector Carolyn Bowersox told the commissioners many of the problems could have been avoided with more communication. She said many residents didn't even realize that bills were going out twice a year. Her other major concern was the fact the she didn't think anyone checked the bills for simple mistakes.

"Nobody proofed those bills at all," she said. "This has been a Mickey Mouse job."

In an effort to get the problems straightened out, tax collector will meet with county officials in May before the next round of bills goes out.

"I'm sure we'll have this all straightened by July," said Bossert.

Standard Journal

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002