The long awaited tax bills have been tallied, totaled and printed and now await being mailed. Tax Commissioner, Scott Clements says county residents should expect to receive the bills by the end of the week.

But for those who do not want to wait for a paper bill to come sliding into the mailbox, the county has already prepared the bills to be paid online at www.gordoncounty.org. “There are several options to pay a bill,” Clements said.

Tax payers who do not want to wait for their bill to arrive in the mail and don’t want to pay online can print off their bill from the county Web site and mail in a payment, Clements said. Residents can also call the Tax Commissioners office and receive their bill amount and account number over the phone.

For those who pay through an escrow account, the bill will be mailed to the escrow holder.

Bills paid prior to Dec. 31 can be put deducted from 2009 tax returns.

Tax bills are not the only thing Gordon County residents can pay online, tag renewals can also be paid via the internet.

“This has been an option for about 10 days now,” Clements said.

Those whishing to renew their tags online can visit https://mvd.dor.ga.gov/tags/index.aspx where they will chose Gordon County among the list of counties. Customers will then be led through a set of prompts.

There is a $4.95 convenience fee for those who pay with a credit card, but Clements says that pales in comparison to the fine one might incur if a tag is not renewed in time.

Clements said the first person to use the program was an example of why online payments are such a success.

“They called the (Commissioners) office in a panic on a Friday. They were out of town and their tag was due to be renewed the next day,” Clements said. “We were able to direct them where to go and they avoided the fine.”

The county chose to begin using the online payment system for that very reason.

“Nobody likes to pay penalties,” Clements said.

The company responsible for the online payments is Official Payments based out of California. Clements says the company has a contract with Georgia, and is the only company the Department of Revenue will use.

Currently a little more than 50 percent of the counties in Georgia are using the online payment system, Clements said.

“The people in this office don’t work for me. They work for the people of the county,” Clements said. “This new system is just one more way we can assist them.”