Last month, the U.S. Treasury officially stopped making the 1-cent coins. President Trump ordered it because pennies cost more than three times their own value.

But in Clark County, that’s creating uncertainty for Alishia Topper, the local treasurer. Last week, Topper sent a memo to county departments explaining that the county’s bank, JPMorgan Chase, is experiencing a penny shortage and could not fill the county’s coin order.

That money is used by school districts, courts, the sheriff’s office and for property tax payments, which sometimes happen in cash.

“People like me who send out tax statements or companies collecting sales tax, they’re kind of stuck knowing that we have an exact amount we have to collect but we don’t have change to give to folks if they’re paying by cash,” Topper said.

Without federal guidance, the response to the penny shortage is playing out in a patchwork way for businesses and local governments. Some large corporations like McDonalds and Taco Bell have posted signs in stores explaining that cash purchases will be rounded up or down.

The National Restaurant Association is advocating for a national rounding standard through Congressional legislation to take the burden off businesses, which have already lost millions in transactions they’ve rounded to customers’ benefits, according to retail industry groups. The Common Cents Act was introduced in September and specifies that cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest five cents, but it has not received approval from lawmakers yet.

Topper said she hadn’t found any rule saying that Clark County couldn’t create its own policy, but for consistency between local governments, a federal rule would be better from her perspective.

“Most people who come to pay their property taxes don’t want to pay even a penny more on that bill,” she said. “So, my guidance if we run out of pennies and when we run out of pennies is we’re going to round down until the state gives us guidance on how to handle those transactions.”

A spokesperson with the Washington State Treasury did not respond to an interview request. The Oregon State Treasury has not arrived at a policy yet.

“Treasury has been in discussions with our partners in state government to identify potential impacts related to the matter. To date, we are not aware of operational impacts on government customers,” Eric Engelson, the Oregon agency’s public information officer, wrote in an emailed statement.

In the meantime, anyone getting ready to pay property taxes in Clark County with cash should plan to break out their own penny jar.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/12/17/penny-shortage-clark-county-washington/