Paying your property taxes in a timely manner is a key responsibility as a resident of Lawrence County and the United States of America.

However, making sure what you pay is correct is just common sense and good business.

Now that Lawrence County has completed the state mandated re-assessment of property tax values and the bills have gone out, taxpayers are starting to take notice.

Although the overall average may have been a 9 percent increase in tax value, there are already a host of anomalies that are showing up, making it more important than ever that citizens actually look at their bills and use some common sense to determine if they believe they are accurate.

The Lawrence County Auditor’s website is a tremendous tool for this, allowing citizens to their valuations over a period of years to try to determine what may have changed.

Right now there are a number of questions about individual tax notices that run both ends of the spectrum.

We have seen some parcels that dropped drastically, even as much as $100,000 and others that have increased by nearly 50 percent without any actual change’s or improvements to the property.

There are avenues taxpayer should take to dispute these and the auditor and treasurers’ offices are happy to assist with this.

What is worrisome is that many residents may opt to not even pay attention because their taxes are escrowed into mortgage payments. All banks are happy to provide this information and it can also be found on the auditor’s website.

This newspaper has long advocated paying the taxes on time and honoring your responsibility as a citizen, but it certainly isn’t un-American to make sure you are paying what you actually owe.