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Stew Lilker’s

Columbia County Observer

Real news for working families.

County News

 

Ronnie Brannon County Tax Collector says
"Time is running out for savings."


Ronnie Brannon, Columbia County's popular Tax Collector, wants you to know that time is running our for savings. He urges you to renew you registrations by the end of the month, if you qualify, for substantial savings. Go here to see if you can save money.

A little bit about Ronnie Brannon and the Tax Collector's Office 

Columbia County’s Tax Collector, Ronnie Brannon has been working in the tax collector’s office since 1986.

Before that he had twenty three years experience in retail, which explains his and his staff’s concentration on service.

Mr. Brannon explained his success in the Tax Collector’s Office this way. “You have to have a staff dedicated to serving the public and I have a good one.”

Mr. Brannon explained that the Tax Collector’s Office is a fee office, which means that it costs the county tax payers nothing to run his office.

Mr. Brannon said that his office gets three dollars to renew a tag and this fee has remained constant since about 1985.

The tax office is a clean running machine and last year returned five-hundred thousand dollars to the county.

Mr. Brannon explained that even with the loss in revenue for the county and the decreasing tag and title business, his office is still operating in the pink as he makes up these loses in commissions by collecting the taxes for the School District, the County, and the City.

Ronnie wants you to know you may still save money if you act now.

• Go here to check it out.

If you still have questions, Ronnie says, "Give us a call at (386) 758-1080. We are here to help you."

Mr. Brannon said, “If the tax rolls drop significantly we could be in trouble, but so far we are holding our own.”

He continued, “When I was elected in 2005 we had twenty employees then and we have twenty now.”

Mr. Brannon explained that the possible transfer of the driver license function from the state to the county, the way it is being proposed, would be a losing proposition for the county. He said, “Driver’s licenses are a state function.”

Mr. Brannon said that he is always looking for ways to save money. He said, “My motto is – do it now and save some money.” This certainly is one reason that his office returned a half a million dollars to the county last year.

Mr. Brannon concluded by saying, “My staff is always trying to do the best job it can do. We try to give good service. That’s all we can do.”

(Editor’s note:  When your reporter called to make the appointment to meet with Mr. Brannon he just called, got one of the girls on the phone and said, “Ronnie please.” The call was transferred and Mr. Brannon answered the phone himself. No run around and no third degree -- a nice touch in the day when government does its best to insulate itself from the people. After speaking with Mr. Brannon the Observer is glad to report that he is a “nice” man and a credit to his Office and the people of Columbia County. – Stew Lilker - ed/pub.) 
 
 
 
 
 
Ronnie wants you to know you may still save money if you act now.

• Go here to check it out.

If you still have questions, Ronnie says, "Give us a call at (386) 758-1080. We are here to help you."