This story has been updated from an earlier version.

COVINGTON, Ga. — Newton County's school superintendent says she is concerned any change in how property taxes are collected could force it to pay interest on a loan to meet immediate operational expenses.

But Tax Commissioner Marcus Jordan told The Covington News he is not changing how his office sends the school system its monthly tax disbursements, including those from the previous month's tax collections from motor vehicles and property.

Jordan has been publicly defending the latest property tax bills sent by his office amid complaints that he is requiring payments be made in a lump sum by Dec. 20 rather than the usual method of allowing two installment payments in October and December.

He also has defended his assertion that his office has never sent tax bills to mortgage companies. 

Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey of the Newton County School System said she was concerned any changes in how tax payments are collected could delay disbursements to the school system. 

Such a delay would require the school system to apply for a Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) — typically a short-term bank loan on which it would have to pay fees and interest.

"Unfortunately, we have experienced delays in disbursements for the last couple of years and we have been forced to use our reserve funds to make up the difference," Fuhrey said. 

Fuhrey, who has served as superintendent since 2012, said the school system "historically" received a disbursement in November from October installment payments and in January from December final payments by taxpayers. 

"I am concerned that another delay could potentially cause the system to need to apply for a Tax Anticipation Note, which would not be necessary if the school system received its disbursement according to schedule," Fuhrey said. "Changing the tax collection schedule results in a change in the disbursement schedule, which creates instability in our funding mechanism." 

She said system officials are "working to project whether the school system reserve funds will cover expenditures through Dec. 31."

"As such, we will plan with our financial institution to move quickly should a TAN be necessary to cover operational expenses.

She said the school system already pays the Tax Commissioner’s office a 2.5% collection fee totaling $1.8 million that could be used for school system operations. The additional cost of fees and interest for a TAN would further decrease needed revenues, she said. 

"If the disbursement schedule did not change, the need for a TAN would not exist," she said. 

Jordan said his office sends a monthly payment of money collected from the previous month's tax collections from motor vehicles and property to the school system.

Fuhrey said Jordan is “technically correct” about the monthly payment.

“However, the issue lies with the installment due dates and the lack of notification regarding any changes to the installment due dates,” Fuhrey said.

“In past years, there have been installment dates listed on the tax bill falling in October and December, allowing the school system to receive a large portion of the revenue in November and the remaining portion in January. This has been our revenue pattern for many years.

“The property owners of Newton County received a tax bill without any mention of installment due dates. There is only one due payment date listed on the bill which falls in December 2022,” Fuhrey said.  

As a result, the school system will not receive the majority of its funding until January 2023, she said. 

“So, while there is no change in the date that we typically receive our monthly funding, there will be a significant change in the amount of funding that we will receive in November 2022. 

“The school system was not made aware of any changes to the installment pay structure prior to the tax bills being mailed. As a result, we will again face delays, as we have over the last two years, in receiving property tax revenue.”

District 1 County Commissioner Stan Edwards recently wrote on his Facebook page that the county government was looking into whether the Board of Commissioners were legally required to approve any changes the tax commissioner makes to a collection schedule.

But Jordan told The Covington News the Board of Commissioners has never required two due dates for installment payments on residents' property tax bills since he took office in January 2001.

Jordan said in a recent reply to questions from Edwards the tax commissioner's office was "still accepting installment payments and since penalties and interest do not accrue until after the (Dec. 20) due date it was meaningless to place a due date for partial payment." 

He said the tax commissioner's office "wanted to get bills out in a timely manner" when it sent them in August — allowing property owners four months to make payments so long as the bill is paid in its entirety by the Dec. 20 due date. 

"We also have plans to send a second mailing around the first week of November as reminder to pay any remaining balance owed," Jordan stated in the reply to Edwards.

He also told Edwards that "longer-tenured" employees in his office did not recall property tax bills ever being sent directly to mortgage companies.

"Customarily mortgage companies will receive a copy of our digest file and make bulk payments for customers," he told Edwards.

The county also was considering how to address an error printed on tax bills that incorrectly states an $80,000 homestead exemption from Newton County school property taxes was in place for those 70 and older. 

Chairman Marcello Banes said such an exemption would require legislation be approved specifically for Newton County, which has not been done. 

Jordan told the Newton Citizen newspaper the notice was an error by his current printing vendor which he declined to name.