City tax collection rate inches up

The grace period for Decatur's 2012 second installment real property and annual business personal property tax payments expired on Jan. 7, 2013.  By the end of the grace period, the city normally has a collection rate for real property taxes of about 94 or 95 percent, with the remaining amount collected in subsequent months through delinquent collections, lien filing, and annual tax sale processes.  

By the end of the grace period this year, we are already at a 97 percent collection rate.  This represents an improvement of about $300,000 collected for the City and school system compared to the same deadline last year.

By the end of the tax sale, which we usually conduct each August, Decatur’s real property tax collection rate normally reaches 99.9 percent.  Thank you, Decatur taxpayers, for your timely payments and high rate of tax compliance!

Unfortunately, the collection rate for business personal property taxes (such as business inventory and equipment) is much lower than for real property, but the rate is consistent with prior year collections.