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<p>Luzerne County and municipal 2019 real estate tax bills will be sent to most of the county&#8217;s 157,500 property owners by Monday, said county Treasurer&#8217;s Office Manager/Tax Administrator Laura Beers.</p><p>County and municipal taxes appear on the same bill except in the four cities &#8212; Hazleton, Nanticoke, Pittston and Wilkes-Barre &#8212; which handle their own municipal bills in-house or through an outside company.</p><p>This year, the county is providing an envelope for property owners to mail their payments. The back of the bottom portion of the bill will contain the appropriate tax collector&#8217;s name and address so it will be visible through the envelope window.</p><p>&#8220;Quite a few taxpayers have been asking for this. It does not affect the cost to mail each tax bill,&#8221; Beers said, noting the enhancement also will help with mail sorting.</p><p>The bills mailed by Monday will be dated Feb. 4, with a discount or rebate ending April 3. Property owners can save 2 percent on both county and municipal bills if they pay their taxes within two months, she said.</p><p>The law allows an additional two months to pay taxes at the full, or face amount, which ends June 3 for bills mailed by Monday.</p><p>Taxes go into the penalty phase after this date, which means property owners generally are charged an additional 10 percent, or $50 on a $500 bill, she said.</p><p><strong>Exceptions</strong></p><p>Tax bills won&#8217;t be mailed yet in six of the 76 municipalities, Beers said.</p><p>Bills can&#8217;t be sent to Courtdale property owners because the tax collector recently resigned. A new collector must be appointed by the borough, meet state-mandated qualification requirements and receive bonding coverage before bills are issued there, Beers said.</p><p>The county had to hold off on mailing bills in five other municipalities &#8212; Jeddo and the townships of Buck, Conyngham, Dennison and Ross &#8212; because it did not receive full reports on unpaid 2018 taxes before the Jan. 28 bill printing cutoff, said Beers.</p><p>Bills in these five municipalities should be mailed in mid-February.</p><p>While some delinquent tax data was supplied, the county had not received final tax collector reports from the five municipalities signed by both municipal and school officials stating the amounts of unpaid 2018 real estate taxes, Beers said. These reports are mandated to ensure the totals match files of delinquencies sent to tax claim.</p><p>The final reports were due Jan. 15, although the county is mailing bills for those that submitted them by Jan. 28, Beers said.</p><p>Property owners in Courtdale and the other five municipalities will have the same amount of time to pay at discount and face, but the dates will depend on when their bills are mailed, she said.</p><p>Municipal real estate taxes are <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/top-stories/731578/fifteen-luzerne-county-municipalities-increasing-real-estate-taxes-in-2019" target="_blank">rising in 15 municipalities this year</a>, while Dennison Township has a decrease. Slocum Township is the only municipality without a local real estate tax.</p><p>County taxes will remain at 5.9754 mills, which equates to a bill of $597.54 on a property assessed at $100,000. Property owners must divide their assessed value by 1,000 and multiply it by the millage rate to figure out their property tax bill.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Courthouse </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_luzcocourthouse01-5.jpg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County Courthouse </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County mailing out 2019 real estate tax bills