Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - This reporter never received his Missoula County property tax bills in the mail this year, but thankfully, KGVO spoke to Missoula County Clerk and Treasurer Tyler Gernant after receiving a message from his office that property taxes are due no later than November 30.

Don't Put off Paying Your Property Taxes!

“The first half of real estate taxes for your 2022 taxes are due on November 30 at 5:00 p.m.,” began Gernant. “You can make payment by either coming into our office or mailing in a payment. If you do mail a payment, the postmark date is what we use. So as long as you mail it by the 30th, and it gets a postmark of the 30th, then we'll use that or you can pay online at any time and there's no fee if you pay online via electronic check.”

Gernant again explained what property taxes fund to keep city and county services operational.

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Right Now, Property Taxes are all we have to Fund Local Government

“Property taxes are what largely fund your local government, and so police, fire schools, roads, all the infrastructure that your local governments provide are all funded primarily through local property taxes,” he said. “And so paying those taxes and paying them on time is critical to the function of local government. If you don't pay on time, then there is a 1 percent penalty applied to the amount that you would have had to pay. So the first half amount there would be a 1 percent of that as a penalty, and then additionally there is a 10 percent per year interest rate applied. So that continues to accrue interest until you do pay.”

Governor Greg Gianforte mentioned in a recent speech that he will work to make property taxes payable on a monthly basis instead of paying a large amount twice every year.

Would it be Easier to Pay Property Taxes Monthly?

“My understanding of a lot of those solutions that they're talking about is that they would be solutions that are more automated. So there'd be a way for us to distribute those administrative costs in a way that isn't burdensome on other taxpayers, but also allows folks to make those monthly payments instead of doing them all at once. I don't necessarily support increasing taxes so that we can change the way that we accept taxes, but I think if there's a way to do it, where you're not increasing the burden and cost on other taxpayers, I absolutely support being able to stretch that out over time.”

Click here for details on how to pay your property taxes.

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