Mobile County property tax deadline is Dec. 31

Published: Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 6:00 AM

MOBILE, Ala. -- Mobile County property owners have until Dec. 31 to pay their taxes without penalty, Revenue Commissioner Marilyn Wood said.

Penalties and interest will begin to accrue starting Jan. 1, Wood said. Property tax payments can be made using any of the following:

• Cash.
• Visa, MasterCard or Discover credit cards; a 2.4 percent convenience fee will be added.
• Visa debit card; a $3.95 flat fee will be added.
• Online using an electronic check; no additional charges apply, Wood said.

Residents who have not received their tax bills should either call the Revenue Commission office at 251-574-8530 or 251-574-8545, or go to the website, www.mobilecopropertytax.com.

The Revenue Commission’s main office on Michael Boulevard will be open Dec. 31 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. That schedule includes all satellite offices, except the one in Citronelle, which will be closed, Wood said.

Some property owners are going to pay more this year, despite the economic downturn.

“The value that we come up with is through the comparative sales analysis,” Wood said, adding that some areas will see an increase in their tax bills, while others will not. “Each area is completely different from the other one.”

Don Epley, director of the Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of South Alabama, said the “local tax assessor has to follow the rules that are given by the state revenue department. And the state revenue department has to follow the procedure established by the Legislature.”

Wood said the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will not affect the property taxes collected this year, although “we’re going to have to wait and see for 2011.”

“We don’t see a dramatic effect from the oil spill in Mobile County,” she said.

Officials in Baldwin County have said that the oil spill has affected sales taxes, but they will not know until next year what effect the spill will have on property tax revenues.

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