ST. LOUIS –  Gina Cochran didn’t think she’d still be talking about her real estate taxes in March.

“I mailed that like a week before Christmas, like I always do. Normally, it takes them a week or two to get through to it,” Cochran explained.

She says the checks she sent to cover her family’s personal property tax were received.

“Those (were) cleared on Feb. 7, which I think was the date that they promised that they would take care of everything,” Cochran said.

But Gina’s real estate tax check was never processed. She says she couldn’t get an answer from the county about her account status.

“I just thought it was a delay on their side, but then I got that penalty and interest notice,” Cochran said.

By early March, the penalties and interest on Gina’s bill totaled nearly $550. 

Gina said she saw our previous reporting on the impact weather-related postal delays had on St. Louis County’s ability to process tax payments.

“We won’t have all of December’s payments processed by the end of January. It’s looking now like hopefully by the middle of February,” said Tony Smee, St. Louis County director of Revenue.

In late January, Smee told FOX 2 he understood taxpayer concerns about penalties or interest charges showing up on their accounts despite paying on time.

But with Gina’s check seemingly lost in the mail, she says the county official she’s finally spoke with told her the opposite.

“They said they could not, by statute, cancel the penalties and the fines associated because it had to be mailed or paid by Dec. 31,” Cochran said.

Gina ended up paying her bill online. She says she was confused when she saw the extra costs listed.

“I’m here left with wondering; do I still owe penalties? Do I still owe interest? Who all is this happening to?” Cochran asked.

Gina, however, must’ve done a good job proving her case to the county. 

When we contacted the Collector’s office, a representative told FOX 2 a supervisor deferred Gina’s penalties, removing them from the system. 

The county says deferments are not given without evidence of timely attempted payment and are not given automatically, so the taxpayer must have provided adequate information to have been granted the deferment. 

As for the delinquent notice, the county says it was printed before Gina received her deferment and paid the tax bill online. 

Gina’s account is paid in full with no taxes, penalties or interest due. 

“I will definitely pay online here on out, but the problem is, there’s people that can’t pay online. Something needs to be remedied about this system that they have in terms of making sure that stuff that they get gets processed timely,” Cochran said.