A Taxing Mistake

Yesterday I worked my way through a pile of mail that I thought was all bulk/advertising. Imagine how I felt when the letter from the Lyon County Treasurer's office with the property tax bill fell out. That's the property tax for both Fernley House and the East Lot.

Lyon County property taxes are due in four installments. I would have missed the first installment anyway because the bill probably arrived in early August and I was still in the UK when the payment came due. That's a 4% penalty for late payment. But wait: the second payment was due more than ten days ago, and that means a 5% penalty over all four payments. (Not cumulative; just 5% total for all of the payments.)

I paid the four payments, plus the 5% penalty. I also scheduled the remaining payments (with no further penalties) in my online banking. Those payments aren't due until the first week of January and the first week of March. At least there is no further penalty other than the 5% penalty on the first four payments.

The property taxes may be the only bills I get only on paper. (That includes the tax on a piece of property in Yuba County, California in which I inherited a half-interest from my mother, but I got that one after I got home and paid my half of it with no issue.) I don't know any way to have them delivered electronically. Had they been e-billed to me, I would have scheduled all eight payments.

I do not resent paying property taxes. They are necessary for funding services, and the rates here are not high (of course, the level of services are also not high). I just wish there was an e-bill option. Other local services like the city water/sewer bill can manage it; I wonder why the county can't.

Lisa On Her Way

Lisa called me this morning from her hotel using her calling card (remember, she has no mobile phone) to let me know she was checking out and hauling her luggage the ~850 m down to Union Station. The plan was for her to hang out in the Metropolitan Lounge until her train left at 2 PM Chicago time. When Union Station remodeled a few years ago, they build a new lounge that opens off the main hall and is huge. It's a very comfortable place to wait for your train. When train time comes, they call it in the lounge and escort all of the first class (sleeping car) passengers down to the train.

As I write this, Amtrak train 5, the westbound California Zephyr, has departed Galesburg IL, having left Chicago on time. I don't expect to hear from Lisa again until Thursday morning. Her scheduled arrival in Reno is 9:13 AM. I will of course be watching the train's progress and will leave for Reno when the train passes on Thursday morning. I hope she gets lots of rest in her roomette and gets to watch the lovely scenery go by without having to worry about connections or hotel rooms or airline flights.