Beginning Wednesday, anyone who owes property taxes in East Baton Rouge Parish will incur an additional 10% collection fee on top of late payment penalties charged by the state, says Octave Anthaume, tax director for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office. The 10% fee is new this year, Anthaume says, and it goes to a third-party company, Archon, with which the sheriff’s office contracts to collect delinquent taxes. “We haven’t heard from very many people about it, but I have a feeling that after tomorrow, we will be,” Anthaume says, stressing the 10% is a fee and not a penalty, and noting none of it goes to the sheriff’s office. State law allows for each parish to enter into a collection agreement with a third party and charge the 10% fee beginning Feb. 1 on all delinquent property taxes. Anthaume says he made the new collection fee clear to property owners with outstanding taxes in the parish. He put a short notice about the fee on the first page of a letter sent to all those who owe property taxes, he says, and included an extended explanation of the fee on a second page. —Stephanie Riegel
Today’s poll question: Were you aware of the new 10% collection fee to be imposed as of Feb. 1 on unpaid property taxes in East Baton Rouge Parish?
