Mark Your Calendar For Stearns County’s Property Tax Deadline

May 15 is the date when the first half of Stearns County property taxes are due.  Stearns County Auditor Treasurer Randy Schreifels and Land Records Coordinator Marc Iverson joined me on WJON.  Schreifels says the first half of property taxes are due on May 15 with the 2nd half due on October 15.  He says if you have another property, that is due November 15.

Property Tax Statements

Property tax statements were mailed out in March so everyone should have those statements.  Schreifels says if you don't have yours, call the office (320-656-3870).    Iverson says people can access their property access site through the Stearns County website.  Property owners can look up their property by their parcel identification number or by address.

Payment Options

Ways to make your payment include; by mail, in person and online at stearns.co/propertyaccess.  Schreifels says payments can be scheduled ahead of time for the May and October payments.  He recommends that you schedule the payment a couple of days ahead of the due date.  Mailed payments must be postmarked by the due date to avoid penalties.  Schreifels says other options include quarterly or monthly payment plans.  Some people have their property taxes escrowed and that is something people can do.  Another way to pay is in person at the Administration Center in downtown St. Cloud or at the Service Center in Waite Park.

Delinquent

What is being delinquent on your property taxes?  Iverson says there is a difference between being late on your taxes or delinquent.  He says late is if you were to miss the first half deadline and start to accumulate penalties.  Delinquent is when you don't pay your 2026 property taxes before the end of the year.  Iverson says if you haven't paid by January 1 2027, you are delinquent.  He says interest starts to accumulate on the penalty you are already expected to pay.

Forfeiture

Once the property becomes delinquent, that starts the process for forfeiture.  Iverson says numerous letters are mailed, then they are published in the newspaper on 2 separate occasions.  He says the next step is the property becomes "bid in the state" and that starts a redemption period of 3 years before the property would forfeit.  Iverson says they work with people as much as possible to avoid forfeitures by setting up a payment plan to keep their property.  If that cannot happen the property can be put up for auction.  Schreifels says there are very few properties that typically advance to the point where they become into forfeiture and available for auction.

Dollar Amount Collected

Stearns County collects over $314 Million in property taxes each year.  Schreifels says this includes 31 cities, 35 townships, 16 school districts, numerous HRAs, and Port Authorities.

Online Auction

The property forfeiture auctions are online auctions that are held in June and late in the year.  Iverson says the first one will be held sometime in June.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Randy Schreifels and Marc Iverson, click below.