Second half of property taxes due Nov. 1
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 2 months AGO
EPHRATA — Grant County Treasurer Darryl Pheasant said he wants to remind county property owners the second half property tax payments are due to the county by Nov. 1, a release stated.
While second half tax payments are normally due Oct. 31, Pheasant said taxpayers will get an extra day to make payments since the last day of the month is a Sunday.
In the press release Thursday, Pheasant said tax payments mailed must be postmarked by Nov. 1 to avoid being considered delinquent. Taxpayers may also drop payments off in the county treasurer’s payment box outside the Grant County Courthouse in Ephrata, pay in person in the treasurer’s office, or online at the county website, www.grantcountywa.gov under the treasurer’s link.
Credit cards may be used both online and in person, though a processing fee is included, the press release said.
Pheasant urged all property tax payers to check statements, make sure all parcels are included and include the statement coupon for mailed tax payments. Taxpayers with more than one statement coupon may write a check for the total tax amount and sign their checks, Pheasant stated.
For more information, contact the Grant County Treasurer’s office at 509-754-2011, ext. 4201.
ARTICLES BY CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE
Potato prices up, sales down for first quarter 2023
DENVER — The value of grocery store potato sales rose 16% during the first three months of 2023 as the total volume of sales fell by 4.4%, according to a press release from PotatoesUSA, the national marketing board representing U.S. potato growers. The dollar value of all categories of U.S. potato products for the first quarter of 2023 was $4.2 billion, up from $3.6 billion for the first three months of 2022. However, the total volume of potato sales fell to 1.77 billion pounds in the first quarter of 2023 compared with 1.85 billion pounds during the same period of 2022, the press release noted. However, total grocery store potato sales for the first quarter of 2023 are still above the 1.74 billion pounds sold during the first three months of 2019 – a year before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the press release said.
WSU Lind Dryland Research Station welcomes new director
LIND — Washington State University soil scientist and wheat breeder Mike Pumphrey was a bit dejected as he stood in front of some thin test squares of stunted, somewhat scraggly spring wheat at the university’s Lind Dryland Research Station. “As you can see, the spring wheat is having a pretty tough go of it this year,” he said. “It’s a little discouraging to stand in front of plots that are going to yield maybe about seven bushels per acre. Or something like that.” Barely two inches of rain have fallen at the station since the beginning of March, according to station records. Pumphrey, speaking to a crowd of wheat farmers, researchers, seed company representatives and students during the Lind Dryland Research Station’s annual field day on Thursday, June 15, said years like 2023 are a reminder that dryland farming is a gamble.
Wilson Creek hosts bluegrass gathering
WILSON CREEK — Bluegrass in the Park is set to start today at Wilson Creek City Park. The inaugural event is set to bring music and visitors to one of Grant County’s smallest towns. “I've been listening to bluegrass my whole life,” said the event’s organizer Shirley Billings, whose family band plays on their porch every year for the crowd at the Little Big Show. “My whole family plays bluegrass. And I just wanted to kind of get something for the community going. So I just invited all the people that I know and they’ll come and camp and jam.” ...