RACINE - The U.S. Postal Service is among the thousands of delinquent property owners in Racine County. The issue could land both the county and the federal government in court, according to an attorney for the county.

As of Sept. 1, the postal service owed the City of Racine more than $17,000 in unpaid taxes, dating back to 2004, according to data from the Racine County treasurer's office.

It doesn't owe it to the city any more, because it is now the county's problem. And they're not really taxes, because the city can't tax a building owned by the federal government.

There's the rub. The city continues to assess the postal service's two buildings - on Perry Avenue and Main Street - for storm water runoff, just like every other property.

While what the postal service owes is only a fraction of the county's more than $17 million in delinquent taxes, it's definitely an amount the county wants to collect, said John Serketich, an assistant corporation counsel for Racine County.

Serketich said the issue has dragged on too long and the county is starting to consider legal action against the postal service.

"At this point, we are now opening this up again. Something will be happening. My real hope is the postal service hasn't chosen to neglect this," Serketich said.

For the past two years, Serketich has tried to collect the back taxes from the postal service. Attempting to collect could now include filing suit in federal court to get the money, Serketich said Friday.

A spokesman for the postal service said the agency doesn't dispute the city's stormwater utility fee.

Jim Mruk, a spokesman for the postal service, said attorneys advised agency officials that they are not exempt from the "usage fee." But postal service officials do dispute the city's fire inspection fee, which started appearing on city tax bills between 2006 and 2007.

"When you get a smorgasbord of fees that look like taxes, you're kind of inclined to not pay any of them until you sort things out," Mruk said. "Our attorneys are aware of the situation and we're confident they'll reach a satisfactory resolution of the issue."

The city doesn't assess federal agencies for the fire inspection fee, according to Angela Johnson, a clerk in the Racine Fire Department's Fire Prevention Bureau.

Records didn't show that the city had assessed the fee to the postal service's Main Street building, but had mistakenly done so to the Perry Avenue building, Johnson said. She planned to correct the mistake.

The city has received no request to waive the fee, said Stacey Salvo, a paralegal in the city attorney's office. The city is no longer dealing with the issue, Salvo said.

"This has been an ongoing issue and we're letting the county take the lead," Salvo said.

That leaves Serketich and the county in the middle, he said, between the postal service that isn't sure it wants to pay fees assessed by the city, and the city that gets paid by the county regardless.

"If they (the postal service) feel it is improper, they should have been bringing suit to challenge the validity of the assessments in the first place," Serketich said. "There are so many things that could be done to resolve the issue. I think, for the most part, everybody is going to work this out."

If not, the issue could wind up in court, Serketich said.