06/08/2026
There is some great information on the Parkland School District budget, how it is funded, and cautions regarding postmarks and bank bill-pay checks included in the newsletter that arrived today.
Regarding bill-pay checks, I might have to return 0.5% to 1% of regular checks due to errors or late arrival to the sender, but the return rate for bank bill-pay checks is closer to 10%. Things to keep in mind when you send a bill-pay check to any vendor, but especially a tax collector:
1) Read your bill closely and update the bill pay details every time you send a check. Who the check needs to be payable to, where it is to be mailed, and other instructions may change from one collector's term to another or even from bill to bill. I've received many checks payable to my predecessor by name, which obviously cannot be deposited. To prevent this from happening in the future, I insist all payments only be made payable to UMT Tax Collector. That way checks can still be processed by my successor when I leave office someday.
2) Allow at least 2 weeks for your bank to process and mail your payment. Almost every bill-pay check I've received arrives in an envelope from a central processing company with checks from various banks in the same envelope and these are bulk mailed with NO POSTMARK. Therefore, the "date paid" is the date the envelope is physically in my hands.
Overall, I do not recommend using your bank's bill-pay service for real estate taxes. Since you cannot include a payment coupon with the check, there is a higher probability of making an error which causes me to not be able to correctly match the payment to your bill, resulting in a returned payment and possibly losing access to the Discount period or ending up in Penalty or Delinquent periods.
Regarding the mailing address in the newsletter: the publisher needed my contact information prior to securing my new office space. While I am going to keep the Lehigh Street private mailbox (PMB) open through the end of the year, my strong preference is for all future mail to be sent to my physical office at:
UMT Tax Collector
Attention: (insert your reason for mailing here)
1275 Glenlivet Drive
Suite 100 - 126
Allentown, PA 18106 - 3107
