Q. Why was my tax bill sent to the wrong place? 

A. For real property, the County Assessor's office supplies mailing addresses that were provided by the property owner at the time a deed was recorded or a tax discount application was filed.  If a mailing address has changed, the tax payer should notify the Assessor's office.  As a convenience to tax payers, the Treasurer will forward address correction information to the  Assessor's office that is submitted on the space provided below the perforated "Detach" line on the bottom right side of the tax bill.

Q. What property is this tax bill for?

A. Information at the top of the tax bill identifies the property that this tax bill is for.  Three items at the top of a real estate tax bill that identify the property are:  Legal Description, Property Location, and TMS Number.  The TMS number is the number used to track the market value, assessment, and ownership information on the property.  The Bill Number is used to track the actual tax bill and its payment status.

Q. What are all  the numbers at the bottom of the tax bill?

A. These numbers make it possible to process your payment more efficiently.  The numbers are a code that can be read by an optical scanner thereby automating the receipt of your payments paid by mail.

Q. I received a tax bill for a property that I sold this year.  Why, and what should I do?

A. The owner of the property as of December 31st is the "owner of record" for the next tax year under state law.  That owner's name is shown in the upper left corner of the tax bill.  When the Assessor's office receives a deed for a property from the Register of Deeds office, the ownership information is updated for the following tax year.  If this is done prior to the tax bill being generated, the tax bill would be mailed tot he current owner.  It is likely that the current tax bill was generated prior to the Assessor's office receiving the deed for your property.  Since the person having current ownership has the most at stake in seeing to it that the property tax bill is timely paid, the bill should be forwarded to that person to follow up with the steps necessary for payment.  If you are unable to forward it to the current owner, you can return it to the Assessor's office to forward.

Q. What if I expected to but did not receive a real property tax bill, or my bill has an error on it?

A. It is to your advantage to make sure that you receive a bill for any property taxes that you should be paying and that the bill is correct.  Responsibility for the tax does not go away if there is a problem that goes undetected, the responsibility for the correct tax payment simply builds up from year to year.  For questions on real property (land, buildings, and mobile homes), call the Assessor's office, 785-8190.  For questions on all other property, please call the County Auditor's Office 785-8181.

Q. Does the tax bill for my land include the tax for my mobile home? 

A. If you receive two real property tax bills, check them carefully because one is probably for your land and the other for your mobile home (unless you own other real property in addition to your mobile home or lot).  If you received just one tax bill and there is any question in your mind about whether the mobile home taxes have been included, you can get the answer by calling the Assessor's Office mobile home division at 785-8367.