COLDWATER, MI — The city will no longer trust the U.S. Postal Service to receive your tax payments on time, voting to reject a postmark as proof when mailed.
On Monday, Nov. 10, after its investigation, the city council waived $869 in late penalties for six property owners of 18 parcels of land who paid 2025 summer taxes by mail postmarked Sept. 16, 2025, a day late.
Finance Director Tom Eldridge told the council, “If you drop off mail after their midday pickup, that mail will be now postmarked the following day.”
Eldridge said USPS officials never responded officially to the information on the practice, but local postal staff did explain the change.
The taxpayers protested the 4% penalty on the summer tax bill. The council voted to waive the city’s portion of $869 on the tax bills, which totaled $2,582.
Eldridge said the city will now inform Branch County and Coldwater Community Schools of the postmark dispute and see if they will waive the remaining $1,713 that the city has collected on their behalf.
With winter tax bills going out on Dec. 1, Coldwater changed its policy to indicate that it no longer accepts postmark dates as proof of timely payment.
Eldridge said the new policy states that “The date that a payment is received by the city would now be what we use to determine late payments.”
The winter tax payments are due by the end of the day on Feb. 14, 2026.
Delinquent winter taxes incur a 3% penalty and increase 1% monthly afterwards.
The drive-through drop-off box at the Coldwater Post Office clearly states the last collection time from that box, which is on Mondays through Saturdays at 3 p.m. However, there is no explicit warning that mail collected after that time will not be postmarked that day.
All U.S. Post offices were closed on Tuesday for Veterans Day, and no one was available for comment.
Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: The city puts the public on notice that Coldwater no longer trusts postmarks on your taxes
Reporting by Don Reid, Coldwater Daily Reporter / Coldwater Daily Reporter
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