Paying real estate taxes is no longer an all-or-nothing effort in McCandless.
Council voted last week to change the town's method of collecting real estate taxes, offering residents a payment plan.
Under the plan, residents who qualify for a homestead exemption are eligible to pay their real estate and school taxes in three installments -- due Aug. 31, Oct. 31 and Dec. 31.
"We want to give McCandless residents every option available," said Regis Ebner, assistant town manager and tax collector for McCandless. "We just piggybacked this right onto what the school board was doing."
Under Act 1, school districts are required to offer a payment plan for their school taxes. North Allegheny School District passed that measure last month. McCandless and the school district issue a joint bill to residents, making their tax payment process easier, Ebner said.
"We try to keep this as easy as possible so that folks continue to just get one bill," Ebner said. "That's the way it's always been, and we want to keep things moving as smoothly as possible."
In McCandless, the owner of a house valued at $100,000 pays $1,934 each year in school taxes and $150 in real estate taxes. All residents are offered a discount if they pay their real estate taxes by Aug. 31. Payments that come in after Nov. 1 are subject to a 10 percent penalty if the taxpayer has not enrolled in the plan, Ebner said.
The town does not expect many homeowners to take advantage of the option because so many pay taxes from an escrow account through a mortgage-holder.
"This is an option that is going to be used by people who are maybe seeing a financial hardship," Ebner said. "We just want to make this as affordable as possible."
