Unity is on board with proposed property tax deadline extension

Pennsylvania lawmakers may empower municipalities to extend payment deadlines for local property taxes by several months, and the Unity Township Supervisors hope they’ll do just that.

With the coronavirus-triggered economic slowdown placing residents under financial stress, the supervisors voted this week to provisionally extend the deadline for early payment of the township’s 4.2-mill real estate tax, at a 2% discount, from April 30 to Aug. 31.

That proposed extension is contingent on approval of a bill under consideration in Harrisburg. Unity would follow an additional provision in the state legislation that would allow payment of the tax’s full face value, without a 10% delinquent penalty, through Dec. 31 — pushed back from June 30.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction to help our residents,” said Michael O’Barto, who joined fellow supervisors John Mylant and Ed Poponick in approving the more lenient deadlines, as long as state legislators authorize them. “Hopefully, the state is going to do it rather quickly and we’re going to be able to put it in place.”

The state Senate approved the bill, which was referred to a House rules committee, according to township Solicitor Gary Falatovich.

“It is bouncing around Harrisburg at this point in time,” Falatovich told the supervisors Thursday, at their monthly meeting. “We’re hopeful, if it’s going to go through, it’s going to go through sometime next week.”

The supervisors acted in advance of lawmakers ruling on the legislation because the township board isn’t scheduled to meet again until May 14.

Falatovich said the state bill would give municipalities up to 30 days from the legislation’s effective date to notify the local tax collector of the extended deadlines. If the supervisors waited to act until after the bill’s approval, he said, “that would create a set of circumstances where the tax collector may be taking in payments at face value instead of a discount rate, … and then that would create an issue with refunds.”

O’Barto urged other local bodies that tax township property owners to follow suit and approve extended payment deadlines if authorized by the state.

The spring property tax bill includes a Westmoreland County levy of 21.49 mills — representing a 2.4% hike this year, the first increase in 15 years.

The Unity portion of the bill includes 2.4 mills for general purposes and 2 mills to help support the township’s volunteer fire departments.

“This is something the township supervisors have been talking about for the last three weeks,” O’Barto said of the proposed deadline extensions. “There have been many township residents that have asked if any of the portions of our taxes in Unity Township, or if the discount period, was going to be extended.”