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Avery County Tax Office Sends Out 25,397 Tax Bills With Levy of $15.4M for 2015

By Jesse Wood

The Avery County Tax Office recently sent out 25,397 tax bills for 2015 with a total levy of $15,410,576.50, according to August meeting minutes for the Avery County Board of Commissioners.

In July, Avery County Tax Administrator Phillip Barrier gave the Avery County Board of Commissioners an end-of-year report and noted that the tax office’s collection rate for all 2014 tax bills was 96.94 percent.

“That is up from last year. Our goal is 97 percent,” Barrier said, according to meeting minutes. “Of the approximately $18,000,000, we were out of balance one day by 30 cents.”

While the collection rate of 96.94 percent is for businesses, houses and land, the collection rate for motor vehicles is only about 75 percent for the 2014 fiscal year.

Barrier told the commissioners that the statute of limitations on tax bills is 10 years, and for all tax bills from 2004 to 2014, the collection rate stands at 99.8 percent. Barrier also noted that his office allows payment agreements.

For more information, call the tax office at 828-733-8228. Click here to pay taxes online.