Knox County Commission votes down charging interest on late dispatch fees

The Knox County Commission voted against charging interest to municipalities that mailed late 2024 dispatch-fee payments at a special meeting on Nov. 21.

The Chair brought forward an act to charge interest for late dispatch fees. Commissioners and staff discussed thecounty’s practice of sending reminder letters in August and noted that timeliness is determined by postal postmark, not the date the county receives payment. Staff reported that two municipalities had mailed payments after the due date.

A commissioner emphasized the postmark rule: "We have to go by the postmark on when they actually put it in the mail and when it's postmarked, not the day we receive it," and said both late payments were postmarked after the deadline. Commissioners debated whether to assess interest given that the late payments were only a few days late.

After discussion, the motion to charge interest was put to a vote and was defeated; the meeting record indicates the motion was not approved (the transcript records the vote outcome as 0 in favor, 3 opposed). Meeting participants asked that the minutes note the action and the commission clarified the outcome before moving to the next agenda item.

The commission moved on to the remaining agenda items and closed the special meeting after an executive session.