Oyster Bay Receiver of Taxes Jeffrey P. Pravato today announced that the Town’s eCheck (ACH) processing vendor has agreed to reduce the fee charged for online property tax payments made within the next 30-60 days. Taxpayers are generally charged up to $6 by the vendor for eCheck (ACH) payments and will now only be charged $0.75 for payments up to $100,000. This reduced fee was requested by the Receiver of Taxes as the office has suspended in-person payments due to the current public health emergency facing our nation.
Receiver Pravato stated, “With the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many local governments have suspended in-person interactions at their facilities. As the pandemic has had a profoundly negative effect on the residents of the Town of Oyster Bay, and throughout New York State, Supervisor Joseph Saladino and I sought to reduce costs for taxpayers by asking the vendor to reduce their fees. We’re happy to report that the vendor agreed to reduce these costs. To provide further relief, we have also urged the Governor to issue an Executive Order to extend the tax collection deadline for payment of school taxes for a 30-day period.”
Supervisor Saladino and Receiver Pravato contacted the Governor’s Office last week to request the extension. As the tax collection deadline is currently scheduled for May 11th, reminder notices are scheduled to be mailed to residents in early April.
“Our Tax Office remains open, but we have temporarily suspended personal, in-office contact, resulting in the temporary halt of processing payments made in person, and delaying processing of mailed payments,” said Receiver Pravato. “We are currently coordinating the collection of the second half of school taxes for 2019-2020, and extending this deadline is important to continue protecting the safety of our residents.”