It made plenty of sense from a cash flow perspective for Warren County officials to split tax billing rather than send one bill later in the year for county, school and municipal taxes.

There’s a reason why every other county in the state had made this change before Warren County – it helps with county budgeting. But discussion during a recent Warren County Commissioners meeting shined a light on another potential benefit – fewer tax delinquencies.

In 2013 Warren County had about 11% of tax bills end up being delinquent. Now, that number is 8.78%, a number that ends up equalling about $2.9 million in delinquent tax bills. But Brent Baille, county finance director, noted that split tax bills could help drive that number lower. It’s entirely possible that county finance officials aren’t the only ones who could benefit from improved cash flow.

“So the bills are split, so it’s a little bit easier for everybody but also you have more time to pay the county/township bill as well,” Baillie said. “So if you come in with some money later on in the year to get those paid you know instead of waiting to have them come to me.”

The county’s cash flow is a good reason to split tax billing. Improving cash flow for county residents is even more important, in our view, and we hope that the number of delinquent tax notices continues its slow decrease from the 11% delinquent notices Baille dealt with in 2013.