Sheriff Larry Bennett said the county's tax bills, totaling $7,760,204.70, will be mailed out on Friday and should reach homes early next week.

Last year's tax bills totaled $7,506,324.89, a $253,879.81 increase from a year ago.

Bennett said his office would be mailing out 14,223 bills this year and advised anyone that does not receive their bill by early next week to give his office a call at 270-343-2191.

Breaking down the tax districts, the ambulance service will receive $319,626.27, the county extension will receive $212,767.35, the conservation district will receive $68,409.99, the county will receive $579,904.96, fire protection is $2,450.04.

The health department receives $376,598.26, the hospital receives $572,304.36, the library receives $387,045.63, and the school board receives $4,670,234.57 while the state is set to receive $1,171,413.22.

Bennett said if the bills are paid by Nov. 30 there will be a 2 percent discount while in December taxpayers owe the full bill.

From Jan. 1 to Jan. 31 there is a 5 percent penalty and after Feb. 1 there is a 10 percent penalty plus a 10 percent add-on, he said.

The $7.7 million bill this year is up from the $7.5 million in 2009 which was up from the $7 million figure in 2008 and the $6.6 million figure the year before that, according to a tax billing report.

Bennett, the longest tenured sheriff in Russell County history, said he remembers when he first became sheriff the tax bills totaled just $1.6 million, a sign of how Russell Countians have improved their property over the years to go along with various tax rate raises.