Error halts tax collections for Canton

The Madison County Tax Collector’s Office ceased collection of taxes and issuance of license plates for residents in the City of Canton and Canton School District last week after discovering the millage rate submitted by the city was incorrect. 

Tax Collector Kay Pace said when she discovered the error she paused collection of the taxes until it was corrected. She said on Wednesday she was expecting to resume collections at some point this week. 

The millage rate determines the amount taxpayers owe on their property. The rate turned in by the city for the Canton School District was 57.01 mills The correct rate was 52.28 mills.

“The City of Canton had their millage rate computed incorrectly,” Pace said. “I contacted the city and asked them to correct everything for me.”

Pace said the city was slow to turn in the millage rate this year and, luckily, she had been unable to print and mail statements. 

“Normally I would have had them out around the first or middle of November for everybody,” she said. “They were really late getting the information to me to begin with.”

Pace said she ceased collections because taxpayers were overpaying and thus would initiate a round of refunds. She said some taxpayers had already paid before the error was caught. 

“We’re not talking about a couple dollars here,” she said. “Nobody wants to pay more than they have to for a license plate or land taxes.

“Some people paid before I caught the incorrect amount and so we will have to go back and refund them,” she continued. “It will probably be February before those are looked at.”

Canton Mayor Dr. William Truly said the issue should be resolved now and attributed it to an error. 

“I regret that this happened,” Truly said. “It was just a simple error that was made. Fortunately, it was caught in due time.”

Truly said since the city hadn’t raised taxes in several years they were utilizing the same figure, not taking into account the school district millage had changed. 

“That figure had been with us for quite some time and that was the figure that we submitted,” he said.