You might be surprised when you get this bill at the same time as property taxes

Macon property owners may be surprised when they open their property tax bills in September.

The tax notices will include another fee —$120 for six months of garbage and recycling collection services.

An ordinance that repealed annual billing and cleared the way for quarterly garbage billing was approved by the County Commission earlier this month. But an amendment to the ordinance also requires six months worth of billing to be added to the property tax notices that will be mailed out in a couple of weeks.

Several commissioners have said they thought having the annual solid waste collection bills going out at the same time as property tax notices was an unfair burden on taxpayers. Property taxes have gone up 6 mills over the last two years.

The $120 bill will allow the county to continue receiving payments for solid waste collections until the switch back to quarterly can be made next summer.

County Commissioner Mallory Jones said Wednesday he understands there will be some confusion when taxpayers receive their bills in September. Those solid waste fees won’t be listed on property tax bills next year.

“The first half of the year (solid waste fees) will be covered on the tax bill, but come July 1 it’s back to quarterly billing,” he said. “We just needed some time to get (quarterly) back in place based on the new software and going to a new system.”

Tax Commissioner Wade McCord has estimated $130,000 could be needed for the new software that allows quarterly billing, but he says that price may end up being cheaper than expected.

Some residents have inquired why the county can’t just revert back to the old system it previously used to send out those bills four times a year.

That’s because the old system became outdated and difficult to maintain, McCord said.

“We were able to do annual billing on our current property tax software because it is geared to do an annual billing,” he said. “It’s not geared to do utility billing.”

Macon-Bibb County residents made an annual payment for their 2018 services.

Quarterly billing will cost about $30,000 each time the notices are mailed out every three months.