Mathews residents can expect to receive their tax bills in the mail sometime next week, with the due date for the first payment on real estate taxes extended to June 30.

Treasurer Wendy Stewart said that the bills were sent to the printer for distribution after Tuesday’s Mathews County Board of Supervisors’ meeting . “We were just waiting on the rate,” she said on Thursday.

At its May 24 meeting, supervisors voted to reduce the 2022 real estate tax rate by a half cent (from 64.5 cents per $100 of assessed value to 64¢) and extended the due date for the first payment on real estate taxes from June 5 to June 30.

Stewart had requested that the rate be changed either up or down in order to make record keeping easier for the treasurer’s office.

During public comment period at the May 24 meeting, Sonny Fauver of Port Haywood objected to raising the rate because of the economic pressure people are currently under, and Bobby Dobson of Cobbs Creek suggested that the board reduce the rate next year if it decided to increase it this year.

Other tax rates will remain the same, including the personal property tax rate of $3.70 per $100 of assessed value, the boat tax of $1.45 per $100 of assessed value, the camper and other personal property tax of $2.14 per $100 of assessed value, and the machinery and tools tax rate of $2.14 per $100 of assessed value.

The ordinance is retroactive to Jan. 1 and terminates on Dec. 31. County Attorney Andrea Erard explained that tax rates had always been set by resolution in the past, but during the pandemic the method was changed because of the difficulty in getting people together for meetings and the delay that caused in getting bills out on time. The board voted to have the ordinance expire at the end of the year and return to setting tax rates by resolution in the future.