By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — If all tax bills are paid, nearly $65 million will pass through the Jasper County collector’s office this year, according to Steve Holt, county collector.

His office has mailed tax bills for 2009. The taxes must be paid by Dec. 31.

For the first time this year, the office will accept payments via debit card, but not for the $2 charge announced in the tax bill mailing, Holt said.

He said he negotiated that flat rate with the companies that handle the card payments, but then was informed after the tax forms were printed that the companies instead would charge a fee of 1.5 percent of the total bill.

The office also takes credit card payments, and Holt said he negotiated a lower rate for those payments.

“The rate on credit card bills will be 3 percent; before, it has been 3.9 percent,” he said. “In both cases, that money goes to the card companies, not the county.”

On a $500 tax bill, the fee would be $7.50 for using a debit card, and $15 for using a credit card.

Holt said the county also will accept partial payments, but interest and penalties for late payment apply to the full amount of the tax bill.

The tax bills reflect personal and real estate taxes assessed by a variety of taxing entitles and collected by the county. Ten school districts in the county are the primary beneficiaries of the taxes. If all taxes are paid, school districts will share more than $50 million — more than $35 million in real estate taxes and nearly $15 million in personal property taxes.

Jasper County collects taxes for nearly 20 taxing entities, including school districts, cities, the state of Missouri, fire and road districts, and boards that allocate county funds to the developmentally disabled and those with mental problems.

Tax payments may be mailed, paid at collector’s offices in the county courthouse in Carthage or the Jasper County Courts Building at Sixth Street and Pearl Avenue in Joplin, or left in after-hours drop boxes at those buildings.