Richmond County has approximately $6.5 million more in delinquent tax cases this year compared to the same time a year ago.

Officials say they're not sure if it's because people are unable to pay in the midst of a recession or if they're holding onto their money as long as possible before facing a penalty.

"One thing that might be different, our penalty date is not until the 22nd (of December)," said Ryan Barbin, an accountant with the Richmond County Tax Commissioner's Office, adding that last year the penalty date was Dec. 20.

Technically, property tax payments were due in Richmond County on Nov. 17, but a 10 percent penalty won't be added to the bill until after Dec. 22, Mr. Barbin said.

Taxpayers could have received a 1 percent discount if they had paid by Sept. 25, but as of Thursday there were 15,668 accounts still considered delinquent for an uncollected total of $22,534,694, Mr. Barbin said.

For the same time last year, Richmond County had 15,085 outstanding cases, totalling $15,973,780.

Should payments not be received by Dec. 22, in addition to the flat 10 percent penalty, Mr. Barbin said a 1 percent interest fee will accrue to the payment total for each month afterward.

In Columbia County delinquent cases are down this year, officials said. The past due figure was $5,733,761 as of Thursday, an improvement of $4.1 million from just a few weeks ago when the delinquent total was 9.8 million.

The deadline for paying property tax in Aiken County is Jan. 15.

Reach Preston Sparks at (706) 823-3338 or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.