Many Westmoreland taxpayers not noticing extended discount period

Many Westmoreland County residents aren’t taking advantage of this year’s extended discount period for property taxes, and it’s causing headaches for local tax collectors.

Earlier this spring, the county commissioners extended the deadline for the 2% property tax discount — which usually ends in April 30 — through Aug. 31 to help ease financial issues associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

Officials said that despite the four-month extension, a majority of those who paid their county tax bills in May and June did so at face value rather than at the discounted rate.

“Most of the payments coming in are at face value, and we have to send them back,” said Penn Township tax collector Larry Wojcik. “You can’t send a refund to everybody, so we’ve been sending back their original payment.”

Taxpayers are requested to resend the payment for the correct — discounted — amount.

Most of the property tax revenue collected by the county is traditionally paid during the discount period, and this year was no exception. Through April, the county received more than $50 million in property tax revenue. It received another $18 million in May and another $658,000 during the first week of June, according to the controller’s office.

Officials said that 88% of the more than $80 million the county expects to receive in property taxes this year has been paid.

The overpayments have become problematic.

“Sending all these payments back is just time consuming and costly,” Wojcik said.

He is awaiting payments for about 1,200 parcels in Penn Township and is concerned he will have to return the money if they’re not paid at the discounted rate.

Taxes for more than 2,000 parcels in Unity are outstanding, according to tax collector Mark Burkhardt.

Burkhardt said Thursday he was instructed by county commissioners to return entire payments to property owners, rather than just the refund the overpayment. He conceded that doing so has left some taxpayers a bit confused.

“It’s more of a hassle for taxpayers than for us,” Burkhardt said.

County Commissioner Sean Kertes said the extended discount period, and the decision to not implement penalties on property taxes paid through the end of 2020, were designed to give residents additional time to pay. He said it’s become apparent the extended discount period has gone unnoticed by the public.

“We just want people to know they can pay at the discounted rate until the end of August,” Kertes said.