MOULTRIE — The due date for 2005 Colquitt County property tax bills is fast approaching, and Tax Commissioner Cindy Harvin is urging residents to pay on time.

Mailed out Sept. 23, tax bills are due Saturday, Dec. 10. Any payments not postmarked by that date will be sent back for penalty, Harvin said. Until Jan. 11, penalty will be 1 percent plus costs. Costs are $5 for bills less than $100 and $10 for bills more than $100.

Interest rises to 2 percent after Jan. 11 and the 11th day of each month thereafter, plus the unpaid list will be put on docket in the Clerk of Court’s office at the end of each month.

An additional 10 percent penalty will be added once a bill is 90 days late (March 10), and the levy process will begin.

Collections are on par with prior years, Harvin said. So far, 99.94 percent of the $15,510,593.29 digest has been collected. This year’s digest is up from $13,221,410 in revenues last year.

Some taxpayers wait and try to make arrangements once they have been levied on, Harvin said, but once levies are served, it is too late.

“We don’t like this part of it, but it is what we have to do,” she said.

Anyone who has purchased property since Jan. 1 needs to be sure taxes have been paid. Most of the time, taxes are prorated at closing and the new owner pays the tax bill since he has already been given credit at the time of closing, she said. Also, homeowners should sign up for homestead exemption if they live in the house they own. This will save them a good bit on their taxes, she said.