Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

County to collect $1.7M by all means necessary

COLUMBUS—Polk County residents who have not yet paid their 2019 property taxes will now be penalized. 

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Monday and charged tax administrator Melissa Bowlin to collect the $1,777,241 still not collected as of Jan. 31. 

So far, the taxes collected for 2019 are at a rate of 88.21 percent, which Bowlin said was about average for this time of year. She said to collect 88-89 percent of taxes by the end of January was normal. 

Commissioner vice chair Tommy Melton asked if the $1.7 million not collected was one major person or one major company. 

Bowlin said the number represents lots of people but there are also a couple of large companies who had not paid as of Jan. 31. She also said there are interest and penalties applied for being late. 

County manager Marche Pittman said the county is not allowed to waive penalties for any reason. 

“Everybody pays the same penalty,” Pittman said.