Missed tax payments cost county $20K

STEVENS POINT - Portage County residents will pay penalties of about $20,000 after the county treasurer missed a payment deadline to local schools by more than two weeks.

The county every year collects property taxes for every taxing body in the area, including school districts and municipalities, and then is responsible under state law for distributing that money to each body by Aug. 20. This year, though, the school district did not receive its August payment of $3,042,958.65, according to a letter from School District Finance Manager Bill Rudahl. Between that and a missed payment to Mid-State Technical College, the county owed $20,900.57 in interest to the two school systems.

State law imposes a 12 percent annual interest rate on late tax settlements.

The treasurer's office has been the focus of multiple investigations in the past year, although no county official will say why. The office was also subject to criticism by County Executive Patty Dreier in May after she said in a memo that treasurer's office staff failed to release more than $215,000 in payments to employees and county vendors on time.

Personnel in the county treasurer's office declined to comment on the missed payments and penalties for this story.

Rudahl sent his letter to the city of Stevens Point, which settles tax payments with the school district at earlier deadlines throughout the year. The county, however, is responsible for the August settlement, said City Comptroller and Treasurer Corey Ladick.

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He said his records show the city provided the county its share of the money Aug. 15 and that the check cleared on Aug. 18.

"Certainly we had given them the check like usual," Ladick said. "We were pretty surprised when we found out that the school district had not been paid."

County Executive Patty Dreier said Monday she directed the county's Finance Department to look for ways to prevent the mistake from happening again in the future.

Sari Lesk: 715-345-2257 or sari.lesk@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @Sari_Lesk.