Countywide : Property Tax Bill Deadline Is Friday

Ventura County property owners have until 5 p.m. Friday to pay the second installment of their property taxes without being penalized, county officials said.

People who do not pay their taxes by the April 10 deadline will have a 10% penalty charge and a $10 service fee added to their bill, Ventura County Treasurer Harold S. Pittman said.

“This is the absolute deadline,” Pittman said. Tax bills were mailed to property owners in October, with the first half due Dec. 10 and the second on April 10, he said.

Even if taxpayers have not received a bill, Pittman said, they are responsible for making the payment before the deadline. “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

Ventura County has had one of the lowest property tax delinquency rates in the state during the last three years, Pittman said. About 18,000 of 225,000 county taxpayers, or 8%, missed the April 10 deadline last year, he said, leaving about $19 million in taxes out of about $422 million still unpaid by June 30, 1991.

Pittman said he expected the number of delinquencies to increase greatly this year because of the recession. However, based on the taxes filed in the first installment, the number so far “is about equal,” he said. “I expected it to be really bad, but it hasn’t happened.”

As of March 20, $251 million of the total $453 million in taxes levied this year had been collected, Pittman said.

Taxpayers with questions should contact Pittman at 654-3725.