Pay your back taxes with plastic

By DAVID HULSE

MILFORD, PA — County officials shook their heads and looked at one another when asked last week just how much Pike County is owed in delinquent taxes. “A lot,” county solicitor Jay Rose suggested.

All told, the figure is more like $16 million said Cynthia Gehris, director of the county’s Tax Claims Bureau. The amount is a combination of school, county and township taxes that have not been paid in the past six years.

The commissioners are hoping to get some of it back from a new program that would allow payment by credit card.

Gehris appeared last week before the county commissioners to explain a new program that would allow property owners to use their Visa and Mastercard charge cards to satisfy those back taxes. Gehris hopes to have the credit card plan in place by May, when the new county tax bills will be mailed.

Under an agreement with the Official Payments Corporation (OPC), the county would provide online instructions for property owners to contact OPC and make payment. The service would be without charge to the county, but cardholders would pay a 2.5 percent “convenience fee.”

The county has no part in any additional fees, but would get its tax money within 48 hours of the OPC transaction.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and neighboring Monroe County use OPC for similar collection work.

In an unrelated matter, at their March 9 meeting the commissioners said no decision has been made regarding a proposed $10 million “green” bond referendum on the May ballot. Commissioner Richard Caridi said that commissioners need more details about specific project impacts and expectations.