Update: Check arrives back in Luverne Dec. 11

UPDATE: Almost a month after a tax payment was mailed at the Luverne Post Office, the letter was received in the Rock County Auditor-Treasurer Office.
Stegenga mailed the $40,903 check on Nov. 14 but never made it to the courthouse in Luverne. Stegenga received a $1,889.68 tax penalty for missing the Nov. 15 property tax payment deadline.
"It sounds like it made the rounds," said County Administrator Kyle Oldre Wednesday.
The envelope arrived crumpled and smudged but the postmark showed the letter was mailed prior to the Nov. 15 due date. It appears from the smudges that the letter made its way to North Carolina before coming back to Minnesota. The check was written in the correct amount and Stegenga's penalty will be voided.
Rock County Commissioners denied a tax penalty abatement request at their Dec. 3 meeting.
The commissioners voted 5-0 and enforced their stance of no penalty abatements unless substantial proof was provided indicating the tax payment arrived by the annual deadline.
Erin Sandstede made the penalty abatement request in a letter dated Dec. 3 on behalf of Stegenga Management LLC and her father, Robert Stegenga.
The letter stated that a $40,903 check was dropped in the mailbox at the Luverne Post Office on Nov. 14 for the agricultural property tax deadline the following day.
The check was never received at the auditor-treasurer’s office at the Rock County Courthouse in Luverne and a $1,889.68 penalty is now due.
Sandstede requested the monetary penalties that occurred in November also be abated.
The overdue payment notice from the auditor-treasurer’s office was forwarded to Stegenga’s address in Arizona and not received until Dec. 2.
Sandstede explained in the letter that three property tax payments were dropped at the Luverne Post Office on Nov. 14.
The payments to Nobles and Pipestone counties were deposited on Nov. 18 and 19 respectively. Rock County never received the payment nor has the check cleared the bank.
“I checked with the Luverne Post Office to see if there was a way to search for the letter or any paper work I could complete in order to try to locate the missing envelope and was told there was nothing they could do and that the letter was likely stuck in a bag or mailing tub somewhere,” Sandstede wrote.
For now, the penalty amount must be paid by Dec. 31. After that date more penalties will be assessed.
“If it (the envelope with the payment) shows up and it has the postmark, then we will refund the penalty,” said County Administrator Kyle Oldre.
There is no time limit as to when the postmarked envelope should arrive by, including a year from now.
“We got a check a couple weeks ago and we refunded the penalty,” Kurtz said. “That’s the first time it has ever happened.”
Taxpayers have the option to have payments automatically withdrawn from their bank account on the due date. The county also publishes tax deadline notices in the newspaper and sends out courtesy past due letters.
“These notices are not required (by state statute),” Kurtz said. “It’s something the county chooses to do.”