Dauphin County commissioners offer interest-free grace period for property owners with 2019 delinquent property taxes

HARRISBURG, PA (January 28, 2020) – Dauphin County Commissioners Jeff Haste, Mike Pries and George P. Hartwick, III are offering an interest-free grace period to all property owners with 2019 delinquent property taxes. 

“In some cases, property owners misplace their tax bills or mistakenly assume their mortgage company already paid their taxes,” said Hartwick, who oversees the county Tax Claim Bureau. “This interest-free grace period gives property owners another chance to pay their taxes.”

Approximately 10,000 first-class letters, which include a breakdown of taxes owed and costs for properties, will be mailed mid-February to property owners with unpaid 2019 real property taxes.

“By waiving the interest period, we increase collections and reduce our mailing costs,” said Haste. “This is another way that we keep revenues coming in and costs from going up.”  

Property owners must pay their taxes in full by March 31, 2020 to take advantage of the program.

“This program not only quickly resolves many of our claims, but it also helps taxpayers,” said Pries. “Our goal is to make the tax-paying process easier for those who are trying to pay their bills and get back on their feet.”

In 2019, Dauphin County’s Tax Claim Bureau issued 10,010 letters to property owners with 2018 delinquent taxes and collected $35,622 in library taxes, $477,466 in municipal taxes, $2,179,197 in school taxes, and $754,442 in county taxes.

For more information about the interest-free grace period or delinquent property taxes, please contact the county’s Tax Claim Bureau at 717-780-6125 or visit www.DauphinCounty.org and enter “tax claim” in the search feature.