Sachse residents should watch their mailboxes for 2020 property tax bills mailed this month from the office of county tax assessor.

The county tax office each year prepares bills for 57 enti­ties that assess property taxes, mailing more than 380,000 statements to property owners and mortgage companies. The number of entities increased from 47 last year with the addi­tion of several Public Improve­ment Districts.

Property tax collections, to­taling more than $3.5 billion, also flow through the county tax office.

Dallas County Tax Assessor John R. Ames said tax bills are usually sent out the first week of October, but this year printing was delayed due to COVID-19 and bills won’t be sent out until mid-October.

“Statements can be found on­line,” he said. “And it’s just pa­per statements that are delayed. E-statements have already been emailed to residents.”

Ames said that Dallas County collected 99.26% of Sachse tax­es in 2019, totaling $10.4 mil­lion.

Dallas County spends about $500,000 mailing tax state­ments, according to Ames, and roughly one-third of the cost is postage.

Ames said he collects taxes for more than 80 school dis­tricts, cities and Public Im­provement Districts.

Collin County Tax Assessor-Collector Kenneth Maun report­ed that he expected tax mailings would be delayed nearing the end of October this year because information for some properties located in Denton County were late and because the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted work.

“Three or four weeks ago, we didn’t think we would be this close,” Maun said.

Collin County mails tax no­tices for properties near the Collin-Denton line that are part of taxing districts primarily lo­cated in Collin.

“The COVID stuff has trashed everything,” he said. “I was worried about getting taxes out in October.”

Various taxing entities adopt their property tax rates in Au­gust and September, and for­ward them to the tax office which then applies to rates to certified property values provid­ed by Collin Central Appraisal District.

Wylie bills include property taxes due the city, county, Wylie Independent School District and Collin College. After the mailing, property tax notices will be avail­able on the tax office website.

Property tax payments are due Jan. 31, 2021, and can made by cash, check, or credit card. Anyone can make partial pay­ment over the next couple of months as long as the full bill is paid by the deadline.

Taxpayers who are over 65 years of age or disabled can set up a quarterly payment plan with the tax office.

Penalties on delinquent taxes start Feb. 1 and increase month­ly until the bills are turned over for collection in July.

Dustin Butler also contrib­uted to this story.

For more stories like this, see our Oct. 22 issue or subscribe online.

By Joe Reavis • [email protected]