VOORHEESVILLE — Those who have been uncomfortable or unable to pay their Voorheesville school taxes through the mail in the past few years now have the option to pay online, Assistant Superintendent for Finance Jim Southard told The Enterprise this week. 

The district stopped accepting in-person payments in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead requiring taxpayers to mail their checks. According to recent posts on Nextdoor, a community social-media site, this has been frustrating for some residents, who have complained about delayed mailings. 

Last year, the district began contracting with the Northeast Regional Information Center to collect taxes, Southard explained, after a full-time employee the district had hired to process payments left for another job. 

“The service required us to send all payments to a PO Box very near their offices in Albany,” he said. “There was no way to set up an online payment option last year through this NERIC tax billing service in the time between June and August 2022.”

That option has now been set up, though, so taxpayers can use either a credit or debit card to make their payments, with a 2.35-percent processing fee being added to credit card payments that goes to the Municipal Services Bureau, which processes the payments. 

“As we have added an online option and changed nothing else, I believe we have made the payment process easier this year compared to last year,” Southard said.