Corbin tax bills in the mail

By Trent Knuckles

Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said Tuesday that city tax bills will be in the mail by the end of the week, avoiding a repeat of the fiasco last year where city residents didn’t receive their bills until February.

“Things just went a lot smoother this year,” McBurney said. “We started actually working on getting everything lined up in August. I guess we just kind of got a jump on it this time around.”

Taxpayers deluged city hall and local officials with phone calls last year when the bills weren’t ready by December. Typically, Corbin runs a little behind other cities and counties in mailing its tax bills because it is the only Kentucky city that lies in two counties, a hurdle McBurney said often makes things more difficult. The city also collects taxes for the Corbin Independent School District.

“I envy mayors in a city with just one county. It’s a lot tougher the other way around,” McBurney said. “We’re going to make it in plenty of time this year. I’m kind of proud of that.”

McBurney said he “bore the brunt” of citizen complaints last year about the tardy tax bills and made every effort to ensure it did not happen again.

City officials said that in 2007, troubles with conversion software used to discern billing information from the Property Valuation Administrator was the primary hold up. The city was forced to borrow $100,000 to pay employee salaries because of the delay in tax collection.

“Everything just matched up real good this year,” McBurney said. “It’s better when we get them out earlier because it helps even out the cash flow throughout the year.”

City residents should receive their tax bills by next Monday in the mail. Those who pay during the “early bird” period will receive a two percent discount on the total owed.