Have we got a #ThrowBackThursday for you! Last month, Wilco the WACO Wise Owl spent some time in Mason County, helping the Mason County Treasurer’s Office during a very busy time… tax payment time! Wilco was very surprised when Mason County Treasurer Lisa Frazier showed just how many payments the office processes – last year alone it was well over 100,000 transactions!
Since COVID-19, there has been a substantial increase in Mason County residents making payments by debit or credit card. However, that doesn’t mean that other methods aren’t available. In fact, the Mason County Treasurer’s Office, and many Treasurer’s Offices throughout the state, accept tax payments in a variety of ways. Here’s how it can work in Mason County:
- You can Pay by Mail – Mason County Treasurer’s Office staff opens, verifies and bundles the payments accordingly; they are run through an optic scanner, batched, balanced and posted into the office’s tax and assessment software.
- You Can Pay Online – Mason County Treasurer’s Office staff pulls the daily reports from their third party vendor, balances the reports to the electronic file sent by their vendor, and then posts to into the office’s tax and assessment software
- You can Pay via Drop Box – Mason County Treasurer’s Office staff retrieves the payments daily (except weekends) and follows the same procedures as if they were received by mail.
- You can Pay Over the Counter – Mason County Treasurer’s Office staff interact with those taxpayers that come into the office to pay. These transactions are generally cash transactions.
- You can Pay via Mortgage Company Payments – Most mortgage companies use a tax service (i.e. Corelogic or Leretta) to manage their customer’s property tax payments. These payments come in, via an electronic file and a wired payment. The files are balanced against Mason County Treasurer’s Office tax and assessment records and then posted.
As for where all these taxes go, well, for Mason County, Treasurer Lisa Frazier releases an Annual Report to the citizens that includes a breakdown by percentage and dollar that is distributed on an annual basis to the Mason County community.
County officials, like the county treasurer, play a key role in the operation of local government. County officials include Assessors, Auditors, Clerks, Coroners, Prosecutors, Sheriffs, and Treasurers. Get to #knowyourcountyofficials with WACO’s Washington County Government booklet: http://bit.ly/WCG2017
And don't forget, WACO has a roster of county officials for each of the 39 counties in Washington. Check out WACO’s roster of officials today: https://bit.ly/wastatecountyofficials
