Submitted by San Juan County

San Juan County Treasurer Rhonda Pederson would like to remind county property owners that the second installment of property taxes and personal property taxes are due Oct. 31.

If you mail in your taxes, be sure to mail early — all San Juan County mail goes to Seattle for processing. When you mail your tax payment from your home or drop it off at the post office mailbox, it is routed to Seattle, where it is postmarked and processed the next day. It is then routed to Friday Harbor where it is delivered to its mailbox, possibly the following day.

State statutes dictate that your postmark date determines your payment date and that 1 percent interest per month begins accruing on the first day of the following month. This means that if you put your payment in your mailbox on Oct.31, it will not be postmarked on Oct. 31, but rather Nov. 1 and interest will be accrued.

On Dec. 1, if still unpaid, an additional 8 percent penalty on the entire 2019 balance due will accrue — again by state statute. These charges cannot be waived.

Save yourself time, money and frustration by mailing a few days early to avoid any late charges.

Credit card payments or electronic checks may be made online at sanjuanco.com/treasurer or by phone to 877-816-9299. Instructions for both are on the back of the tax statement, and a 2.5 percent fee is charged by the service provider for credit card payments, $3.95 for a debit card or $2 for an electronic check.

For taxpayers who signed up for AutoPay, your payment will be made automatically for the amount shown on your second-half tax payment coupon on Oct. 25. Consider signing up for the AutoPay program.

Call the treasurer’s office at 360-378-2171 with any questions.