Franklin officials are urging taxpayers to get their property tax bills in as early as they can after an administrative issue has led to the bills being sent out “way late.”

Because the bills will be mailed Friday and won’t be due until Jan. 10, the city is worried about cash flow issues and taxpayers not being able to deduct those property tax payments on federal income tax returns.

Franklin City Manager Elizabeth Dragon said Wednesday that though municipal, county, school and other documents are due to the state department of revenue in September in order to set the city’s tax rate, the last Franklin document – the school district’s – was just submitted last week.

“This is the latest it’s gone out since I’ve been here,” Dragon said. “This is the first time we’ve gone into January.”

A school district representative could not be reached Wednesday, but Dragon said the issue appeared to stem from the district having to correct the paperwork it originally filed Nov. 17.

Dragon provided an email to the Monitor showing that the state department of education emailed back a request for document corrections to the school business administrator, Amanda Bergquist, on Nov. 18.

Dragon said no one saw the email until the next week, when Bergquist was out on medical leave, and Bergquist eventually had to make the corrections from home.

“We just got our tax rate on Nov. 30,” Dragon said. The tax rate is $25.23 per $1,000 assessed property value.

Franklin is creating its tax warrant and printing bills, and in the meantime, tax collector Katie Gargano sent a letter out to taxpayers explaining why their bills were late. All documents were submitted and approved by the state on Nov. 29, except for the school district form.

Dragon, who helped write the letter, said, “I tried to say in the clearest way without being judgemental – just to explain what happened to create the delay.”

Mayor Ken Merrifield read his own letter over the weekend. Because the city is required to give taxpayers 30 days to pay their bill, the Dec. 9 to Jan. 10 pay period could cause some issues down the road, he said.

“If my real estate taxes don’t get paid until after the first of the year, I can’t claim them as a deduction on my federal income taxes,” he said. “I’m afraid a lot of people will be in for a big surprise.”

While taxpayers using their own funds can avoid the issue by paying their bill by Dec. 31, Merrifield said the situation is challenging for people like himself, since he uses an escrow company to pay his property tax bills.

“I am going to try and facilitate the payment from my escrow company. . . so they can cut a check as quickly as possible,” Merrifield said.

Dragon said Wednesday she was concerned people may not be able to convince their escrow company to make the payment before the deadline, even if they call.

“These large escrow companies will work until the very last minute to send them in,” she said.

If that’s the case, Dragon said individual taxpayers may not only face complications on their federal income tax returns, but the city itself may run low on money for municipal and school operations.

On Dec. 16, she said, “the Merrimack County payment is due, and that’s a big payment that will use up the majority of our cash available.”

If Franklin is low on cash, Dragon said all non-critical vendor payments would most likely be delayed.

She said, “We don’t expect it will impact payroll.”

Anyone with questions about the delay in tax bills, or what they can do to correct the situation, can call the tax collector’s office at 934-3109.