County tax statements going out earlier

Oct. 17—Muskogee County property owners can expect to get their tax statements early this year because county workers got their data to the state early, Muskogee County Assessor Ron Dean said.

Budgets for county taxing entities were delivered to the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector's office on Sept. 18, according to an email sent to County Clerk Polly Irving. After a 15-day protest period, county tax rolls were delivered to County Treasurer Shelly Sumpter on Oct. 2.

"And that allowed the county treasurer to get the statements out by Oct. 10," three weeks before the statutory deadline of Nov. 1, Dean said.

"It helps the taxpayer in so many ways because they can budget out when they're going to pay that tax bill," Dean said. "What we've seen over the past couple of years is that by sending them (tax statements) out earlier, folks are now paying one payment prior to the the first of the year because they're able to budget it."

This enables Sumpter to send ad valorem tax revenue to schools and other entities earlier, he said. "So it's helping their cash flow as well."

In the past, Muskogee County tended to be the last county to deliver the budgets to the state and get tax statements out to property owners, Dean said.

Years of collaboration among the assessor's office, treasurer's office and County Clerk's office has helped get the budgets to the State Auditor & Inspector's office in a more timely manner, he said. Muskogee County officials began revising how they handle the budget process in 2020.

The county has successfully met statutory deadlines each year since then, Dean said.

Irving said she worked with taxing entities in the county to get their estimates of needs to her in a timely manner. Entities include school districts, cities, Muskogee County Emergency Medical Service, libraries, Muskogee County Health Department and elected county officials.

"I gather all the estimate of needs from all the entities, all the elected officials then I make sure it is approved by the county commissioners and the equalization board," Irving said. "Once it's approved by all of those, we send it to the budget maker, the budget maker says OK, we're ready, then we deliver it to Ron."