Tax collector’s office still helping residents despite obstacles

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  • Columbia County Tax Collector’s Office customer service representatives Miranda Lee, left, and Annette LeMay assist customers in the drive-through lanes at the courthouse annex office Wednesday afternoon. The tax collector’s office has been closed to foot traffic since March 26, but continues to assist customers with limited transactions in the drive-through. (TODD WILSON/Lake City Reporter)
    Columbia County Tax Collector’s Office customer service representatives Miranda Lee, left, and Annette LeMay assist customers in the drive-through lanes at the courthouse annex office Wednesday afternoon. The tax collector’s office has been closed to foot traffic since March 26, but continues to assist customers with limited transactions in the drive-through. (TODD WILSON/Lake City Reporter)
  • The waiting area of the Columbia County Tax Collector’s office sits vacant at 2 p.m. Wednesday, while a few clerks process paperwork transactions at their work stations. (TODD WILSON/Lake City Reporter)
    The waiting area of the Columbia County Tax Collector’s office sits vacant at 2 p.m. Wednesday, while a few clerks process paperwork transactions at their work stations. (TODD WILSON/Lake City Reporter)
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It may be a less-than-ideal setting, but the service being provided by the Columbia County Tax Collector’s Office staff during the past two weeks has been essential and embraced by the public.

Traffic through the drive-through lanes at the courthouse annex office has been steady, despite office staff limited to the types of transactions available to customers.

“None of us have ever seen anything like this, but we’re all doing the very best we can,” said Columbia County Tax Collector Ronnie Brannon. “I like people and I would rather have people coming into the office to do their business, but we can’t right now, so we’re helping them as best we can in our two drive-through lanes.”

In the wake of precautionary measures for the coronavirus pandemic, all county buildings have been closed to foot traffic since March 26. The tax collector’s office completely closed its Fort White office and maintains drive-through hours in Lake City from 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Limited business services in Lake City includes renewing car and truck licenses, accepting payment for property taxes and completing title work.

Brannon said title work is not something normally completed in the drive through lanes, but it is necessary during these times. What is not being conducted in any form are driver’s license tests or renewals that require paperwork verification or new photographs.

“We can’t give the eye tests or take any photos because that has to be done inside the office,” Brannon said.

He said people whose driver’s license is about to expire should go online and the state has an option to apply for a grace period. They also can call the tax collector’s office and a clerk can talk them through the process of an extension of up to 60 days. Brannon said his best advice on either of these options was not to wait until the last minute to start the process.

Driver’s license assistance and tag renewals also are limited to Columbia County residents, Brannon said.

Residents may pay their property taxes in the drive through and thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis, have an additional two weeks to pay without penalty. Through an executive order, DeSantis is allowing Florida property owners to pay their taxes until April 15 without penalty. Beginning April 16, a 3 percent penalty will be assessed to the balance owed.

“No matter what the deadline, people will always hold onto their money and wait until the last second to pay their taxes, so there will be a long line of cars in the drive-through line on that last day, you can count on it,” Brannon said. “I don’t recommend waiting until the last minute, but people always do.”

One very important transaction that is still occurring face-to-face is the testing and processing of Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) necessary for professional drivers to operate big rigs on the highways. By recommendation of the president and order of the governor, several locations around the state have remained open to process CDLs and Columbia County is one of these.

“There’s no one else within 50 miles of us doing CDL testing and licensing,” Brannon said. “We’re one of the few offices in the state still doing these. This is important. The president and the governor want to keep trucks rolling, keep them delivering our products, so we have to keep them licensed. We’re here to do this.”

CDL licenses are processed by appointment only and these can be scheduled with the Lake City office by calling (386) 758-1077 or 758-1080 during normal business hours. Brannon said his office has processed 22 CDL license applications of some type since the lockdown began and most of these have been renewals.

CDL applicants are allowed into the office for testing and are approached with the proper social distancing guidelines. Any computers used for testing and any other surface that may be touched by a staff member or by a customer are quickly sanitized.

“We can do it all for CDLs,” he said. “We can do the testing, the photo, and we can test for Haz-Mat certification because we can do the finger printing here, too.”

Brannon said CDL customers may come to his office from any county for assistance, provided they make an appointment, since there are not many offices in the state open and handling the documents. He said truck drivers approaching their renewal date have called ahead from other parts of the state and renewed their CDL license during the past two weeks while traveling through Lake City.

“We’ve had them come in from as far away as Broward County,” Brannon said. “They were driving a truck and they were up this way, so they renewed on their way through.”

There are 20 full-time employees who work at the tax collector’s office, plus Brannon, who is an elected constitutional officer. He said while the office is closed to foot traffic, the office is functioning with a reduced staff with everyone working some each week.

Brannon said he hopes the office lockdown is lifted May 1, but that is only speculation currently. Once his office does reopen, he said customers visiting to conduct business will notice plexiglass panels installed at the customer service windows for everyone’s peace of mind.

“We’re going to do whatever we can to help the people of this county,” Brannon said.