Stephenson County treasurer: property tax bills to mail May 16; payments accepted May 19

The Stephenson County treasurer told the Administration Legal Affairs Committee on May 7 that printed property tax bills are expected to be mailed on Friday, May 16, and that the county will begin accepting payments May 19 online, by mail and at banks.

“This should be in the mail on Friday, the sixteenth. Our website and we'll be live on the nineteenth so someone could go print off their own bill if they don't wanna wait for it to come in the mail,” the County Treasurer said. “The nineteenth is also the day that payments will begin being accepted here by mail, online, at the banks.”

The treasurer said the first due date on the bills will be June 27 and the second due date will be Sept. 5. She told the committee that, because the county started the billing process earlier this year, the first distribution to taxing districts on July 11 "will probably be the biggest one in the whole year because we'll just have been collecting that much longer." The treasurer said that July distribution will be an injection of cash for local taxing districts.

At the meeting the treasurer also summarized the county's month-end investment and cash position. She said invested funds at month end were almost $12,500,000, with 29 separate investments in place and one $1,000,000 certificate of deposit maturing next April earmarked for 9‑1‑1. The treasurer reported nearly $43,600 in interest paid during the reporting period, and a net month‑over‑month loss of about $129,000.

County Clerk staff told the committee the state issued the final tax computation on April 15 and that tax computation reports for each taxing district are published on the county clerk's website under "tax computation reports." The county clerk said the clerk's office delivered the signed computation to the treasurer on April 24 and that the proof materials for the tax bills would be available to the treasurer the following Monday.

The committee approved claims during the meeting; the treasurer reported the claims total as $140,501.70. The committee also approved the meeting agenda and the April 9 minutes earlier in the session.

Other operational updates provided to the committee included the county clerk's report that the April 21 election cycle had closed and that the clerk's office has seen a large increase in requests for birth certificates in recent months. The clerk said 637 birth certificates were issued in a two‑month window, compared with 94 during the same period the previous year.

The treasurer and clerk provided the operational details as informational updates; no policy changes were adopted during the Committee's session.