The York County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 at their March 19 meeting to amend the York County tax code dealing with property taxes.
The amendment requires York officials to look to Department of Motor Vehicle and Department of Game and Inland Fisheries records when then send property tax bills to county residents. Before, county residents were required to file tax returns outlining their property. Now, residents will receive a bill and will note any changes with the county’s Commissioner of the Revenue when a vehicle has been sold or moved out of the jurisdiction.
The change allows for vehicles, trailers and boats that are moved in and out of the county to be prorated as authorized by state statute, meaning you will only be taxed for the amount of time in a year when you are in possession of that item.
The amendment will also change the due date on the first tax installment of real estate, property and business machinery and tools taxes from June 5 to June 25. The delayed payment date will help the Board of Supervisors by giving them more time to adopt a budget but still leaving the treasurer time to send out tax bills prior to the tax due date.
“Moving the tax collection date from June 5 to June 25 is part of the process to allow more time to determine what the state’s revenue to the county and school division are actually going to be,” said County Administrator James McReynolds.
McReynolds said the treasurer and commissioner of the revenue have to go through an administrative process and need to mail the tax bills in enough time for people to respond, so the movement of the due date gives them time to address those issues.
The Dec. 5 due date will remain unchanged. Taxpayers will be given a short grace period with a reduced penalty for delinquent tax payments. If the tax is paid no later than the end of the month its due, the penalty will be 2 percent instead of 10 percent of the total. Once the grace period ends, the penalty is again 10 percent.
The changes are necessary to move the budget adoption date to May 7. The supervisors decided to move the date to May to give them more time to prepare a budget and consider how much money the county will receive from the General Assembly.
All four board members present voted for the amendment. Vice Chairman Donald Wiggins did not attend the meeting, as he was recovering from a blood infection that caused him to be hospitalized for over a week. Chairman Walt Zaremba said Wiggins is “nowhere near ready to come back and join the board.”
