New Jefferson County Tax Assessor-Collector Allison Nathan Getz has only been on the job a few months but she’s already taken a step to make the never-fun task of paying taxes a little easier for county residents. Commissioners Court approved a plan Monday that will allow vehicle registration fees to be paid at four H-E-B stores in the county, including the one at FM 365 at Twin City Highway.

One of the main benefits of the new pay stations at the grocery stores is that they will be open when most people are off work — in the evenings and on weekends. The county’s tax office locations at the Courthouse and the satellite office at the Jack Brooks Regional Airport close at 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and are not open on weekends. In addition, a trip to the grocery store is already part of many people’s schedule, unlike a special trip to the tax office.

We look forward to the beginning of the new auto registration payment option and we salute H-E-B for willing to be part of an experiment in customer convenience for county vehicle owners. We hope that as this program gets off the ground it could be expanded to more sites in South County, truly bringing county government services into our neighborhood. If one has to pay taxes like vehicle registration fees, it might as well be convenient.