ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LU STAFF WRITER
It happens every year.
Roanoke car owners go to the city treasurer's office with their bills and money in hand, ready but reluctant to pay their personal property taxes.
And every year, on the week the taxes are due, taxpayers take the time to wait in a line that seems to stretch endlessly from the cashiers' windows.
The question is, why wait until the last minute?
"I'm just not used to paying personal property taxes," said Mike Schumborg, a Southwest Roanoke resident who got in line at the treasurer's office about 9:30 Thursday morning. "I moved here from Michigan a few years ago, and there were no personal property taxes there."
Last year, Schumborg said, he came to the office the day the taxes were due and waited in line for about an hour and a half.
Taxpayers can avoid the lines by paying early or by mailing in their payments. All cars registered in Roanoke must display the new decal by midnight tonight.
Shirley Whitenak, another Southwest Roanoke resident, usually mails her payments in. But this year, she never got a bill.
"I don't like waiting in long lines, and I wasn't really expecting it to be like this," she said, holding a freshly printed tax bill that the commissioner of revenue's office had provided a few minutes earlier. "I knew that if I didn't pay now, I would pay for it later if I ever got pulled over."
Some parents who brought children with them Thursday also said they hadn't expected to spend time in a line.
"This is the only day I have free to come down here, and I really don't have time to wait," said John Dance, a Northwest Roanoke resident, who had his 3-and 4-year-old sons bouncing around him. "But my girlfriend came down last year, so it's my turn to do it this year. I think I'm going to try mailing it in next year to save time."
Procrastination and lack of money were some of the reasons people gave for waiting until the last week to pay.
"I just hated to give up the money, so I waited as long as possible," said Lloyd Robinson, a Southwest Roanoke resident who already had paid his own taxes and was in line to pay his sister's. "But I didn't think the line would be this long today. She'll owe me next year."
The line moved steadily, with most people getting their decals within 45 minutes.
"I love Virginia, and I love Roanoke," Schumborg said. "But having to pay personal property taxes is definitely the only drawback to living here."
The treasurer's office is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. One employee has been assigned to the Department of Motor Vehicles office at Crossroads Mall to accept payments from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. Three-year-old twins Terryby CNBand Cindy Mills amuse themselves while their mother waits to pay her
boyfriend's personal property tax Thursday morning at the Roanoke
Municipal Building. Today is the deadline for Roanoke vehicle owners
to pay the tax and display the new decal on their
windshields. color.