Putnam County Commissioners have adopted a new policy to round off the amount charged for fees and taxes when customers pay with cash.
County Attorney Jeff Jones said the new policy originated when the U.S Treasury stopped making pennies last February. Jones said this has created an issue, as many county offices deal with numerous cash transactions daily. Jones said the county’s Clerk and Master, Brandi Ashburn, collects small transactions for property taxes on small properties.
“Deal is they have to keep cash on hand for those kinds of transactions,” Jones said. “So last December, Ms. Ashburn contacted me and said that they had been going to banks all over town to try to find pennies and they couldn’t get any.”
Jones said he contacted the state’s Division of County Audit and asked what could be done about the issue, but was told they were not aware of the situation. Jones added that the new policy would be ahead of other counties across the state who may be dealing with similar issues.
“Just today, the Comptroller sent out a memo to all the county officials all over the state about how to deal with this situation, so we’re kind of ahead of the curve,” Jones said.
Under the policy, amounts ending in .01 or .02 would round down to .00, while .03 or .04 would round up to .05. Amounts ending in .06 or .07 would round down to .05, and .08 or .09 would round up to .10. Jones said new policy would only apply to cash transactions and not credit or debit card transactions. Jones also added that the state’s county auditor’s office said these round-ups would not be considered “Audit Findings”.
County Clerk Wayne Nabors expressed how the new policy would make it difficult for his office to round up the many fees they collect.
“Rounding up is a little easier for property tax folks than it is for my office,” Nabors said. “We take in thousands and thousands and thousands in cash, and we have odd transaction amounts. I’ve got to account for every penny, and so when you start rounding up, where’s that going? And I can’t round down. There’s no way.”
The state’s comptroller’s office submitted a letter supporting counties to adopt similar policies.
“In response to the federal government’s decision to stop producing the penny, the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury has issued guidance to help local governments, including utility systems, to adjust their payment processing practices in a fair, transparent, and legally sound manner,” the statement said. “The guidance outlines several options local governments may consider when accepting cash payments, including encouraging exact change, offering electronic payment alternatives, crediting customer accounts for non-exact cash payments, and adjusting rates or fees to increments of five or ten cents when permitted by law.”