Treasurer Burke Helps Taxpayers Avoid Late Fees

MEDINA COUNTY, OHIO – Medina County Treasurer John Burke wants to help taxpayers make sure they pay their property taxes by the February 9th due date to avoid penalties.  

The Treasurer’s Office provides a free service of reminding taxpayers who have not paid their taxes by the last week of collection of the tax payment due date. Treasurer Burke explained, “We run a report 5 days before the due date to determine who has not yet paid their taxes and automatically call them with a friendly reminder message about the due date.” The Treasurer sends the recorded reminder message to about 12,000 to 17,000 each half. Burke says about 65% of the calls are picked up live by the homeowner while the other 35% go to answering machines or services.

Burke said he believes Medina County is the only county in Ohio providing this type of customer service. “Each time we make those reminder calls, I will have some homeowner thank me for the reminder to pay taxes on time; it can usually save the taxpayer several hundred dollars in late penalty fees.” By Ohio Revised Code any late payment after the due date has a maximum penalty of 10% placed on the parcel by the County Auditor.

The Treasurer’s office has maintained a phone number database linked with taxpayers’ parcel numbers for over 15 years. But a growing problem has been County residents who have canceled their land-based home phone numbers and are using cellphone numbers instead. “Our phone number database has shrunk 25% in the last few years from about 47,000 phone numbers to 35,000,” Burke said.

Cellphones are not public like home phone numbers, and therefore the Treasurer’s Office makes a concerted effort to obtain current phone numbers and email addresses from taxpayers to provide important tax information. “We would like to be able to send pertinent tax information to homeowners directly and quickly by phone and/or email,” Burke noted. The Treasurer explained that this contact information is used only by his office for important tax information. “For example we would like taxpayers to know when tax bills have been mailed, if there is any issue with their tax bill or payment, and procedure or law changes that would immediately affect their tax bill.”

Treasurer Burke said there are several ways for taxpayers to update contact information. First is using the County Treasurer website at medinacountytreasurer.com and clicking the link under “Subscribe to Our Email List” on the homepage. Taxpayers can also call the Treasurer’s Office at 330-725-9748 or send the information by mail to John Burke, Medina County Treasurer, 144 N. Broadway Street, Medina Ohio 44256.