Harpers Escapes Tax Penalty Furniture Plant Won’t Pay Late Fees For Second Time

Harpers Inc. furniture plant won’t face a penalty for paying a quarter-million dollars in property taxes a month late - for the second year in a row.

Some homeowners see the reprieve as preferential treatment for business - something they might not get in the same situation.

Kootenai County commissioners this week waived a $5,353 penalty for the Post Falls manufacturer, despite a request from the treasurer’s office to make the company pay.

Plant managers told county officials they deserved a waiver because the company received only two of four tax bills in the mail. The company owns four separate parcels.

The treasurer’s office said all four were sent.

“I know this office mailed them out,” said deputy Treasurer Pat Riggs.

Besides, tax bills come with a notice reminding property owners that they are responsible for making sure their taxes are paid by the Dec. 20 deadline - even if they don’t receive a notice, Riggs said.

Harpers faced a similar problem last year with similar results.

In 1995, Harpers officials said tax notices had been sent to the wrong post office box. The company paid some of its property taxes late and was assessed a penalty and interest.

County Treasurer Jeannine Ashcraft recommended waiving the extra fees last year because Harpers was new to Idaho and unaware when taxes were due. Company officials were warned they would not get such treatment the next year.

They did.

The company owed $276,088 in taxes, but officials claim they received notices asking for only $8,413.06. So that’s what they paid by the Dec. 20 deadline.

They paid the remaining $267,675 on Jan. 20, as soon as company officials realized they were late.

Commissioner Dick Compton said the company was not trying to skip out on the taxes and seemed to have made an honest mistake.

The county assessed Harpers only $2,275 in interest “which they paid in good faith.”

“They told us ‘as soon as we get a bill we pay it,”’ Compton said.

“If we feel the taxpayer is operating in good faith we sometimes will forgive the penalty.”

While Compton said all taxpayers would be given the same treatment, some who appealed their property assessments last summer weren’t so sure.

Hayden Lake homeowner Jim Kelly said if he told commissioners his taxes were late because his bill didn’t come “they’d tell me to ‘shove it.”’ “Everybody knows taxes come out at the same time every year,” Kelly said.

“They’d say ‘that’s too bad.”’

Dane Broadfoot, who also appealed last year, said Harpers shouldn’t be given any kind of relief - especially two years in a row.

“I don’t know if I’d be treated the same or not,” Broadfoot said. But “if I paid my taxes late, I wouldn’t expect any break anyway.”

, DataTimes