By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
The first installment of property taxes is due this Saturday, January 31, but if you assume that depositing your check in your mailbox or a postal box on Saturday will ensure that your tax is paid timely, you will be mistaken. As The Banner announced in June, 2024, first-class mail is no longer postmarked on the same day that it is mailed. Instead, it sits in Whitewater overnight until it is picked up at 6 a.m. the next postal working day on its way to the Oak Creek Distribution Center. So, for example, if you mail your payment this Saturday it will not be postmarked until Monday. In reality there could be a delay in the automated sorting machine processing and postmarking the envelope. If the first installment is not paid on time, the second payment becomes immediately due, and a 1% penalty per month [or fraction of a month] is assessed. [A notice on the back of the Walworth County bill appears to allow a grace period of five days for the payment to be received before this penalty is assessed.]s
How to ensure your payment is made on time?
- If you’re a city of Whitewater property owner, you may pay your bill in person at the Finance Department at the Municipal Building, 312 W. Whitewater Street, by 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
- If you’re a city of Whitewater property owner, you may pay your bill online by January 31. There is a 3% convenience fee for using a credit card, but there is no fee for paying from a checking or savings account.
- Mail your payment at the Whitewater Post Office counter before noon on Saturday, requesting a local postmark.
- Place your payment in the mail as soon as possible but not later than Friday.
Editor’s note: The below press release on this subject was provided by the Walworth County Treasurer. Though it references a Postal Service change effective in December, 2025, in reality, as indicated above, this change was effective here in June, 2024.
Contact: Valerie Etzel
County Treasurer
(262) 741-4251
treasurer@co.walworth.wi.us
County Treasurer advises USPS postmark change may affect tax payments
(ELKHORN, WI): Walworth County Treasurer Valerie Etzel is encouraging residents who pay their property tax bills by mail to be aware of a recent U.S. Postal Service policy change that may affect when envelopes are postmarked.
Effective December 24, 2025, the Postal Service will institute a nationwide change as to when a postmark is affixed to incoming mail, Etzel said. Instead of postmarks being affixed when the Postal Service first touches the item, postmarks are now stamped at regional sorting centers. “That means your postmark could be several days after you put it in your mailbox,” Etzel said. “In other
words, if you plan to pay your property taxes by mail, don’t wait until right before the deadline to put it in the mail.”
Etzel noted that many federal and state laws define timely payment based on the USPS postmark, meaning payments may be considered delinquent if they are mailed too close to the deadline — even if they were, in fact, placed in a mailbox before the deadline.
To avoid this issue, Etzel encourages Walworth County property taxpayers to contact their municipality about the online E-check option, other online payment options, or mail payments earlier to avoid becoming delinquent and accruing substantial late fees. Municipal contacts can be found on the County’s website at https://www.co.walworth.wi.us/216/Municipality-Directory
Etzel cautioned taxpayers against sending tax payments through their personal bank’s online bill payment option, as those payments are often processed in bulk with many other customers’ payments, which can delay their arrival and cause them to become delinquent. This type of payment has become even more problematic in recent years, as the time it takes for USPS items to reach their destination after mailing has increased, Etzel added. Another option could be to bring your payment to the post office in person and have them postmark it in front of you or send it by certified mail, Etzel said.
