Pay Taxes
Payment
of Taxes
Tax payments may be made by cash or debit
machine, or the payment can be either mailed or delivered to the Essa
Administration Centre. (After hours
a drop box is available at the lower level entrance). Tax
payments are also accepted at certain financial institutions (service charges
may apply). The Township also offers direct methods of payment such as
pay-by-phone with a number of financial institutions and pre-authorized payment
plans. For further information contact the
Tax Clerk or the Tax Collector.
Tax
Bills are issued to the assessed property owner. Failure to receive a tax bill
does not excuse an owner from payment, nor relieve him/her from any late
penalty. If you have not received a bill, have not paid your taxes or need
additional information on payment arrangements, contact the Tax Collector.
Pre-Authorized
Payments
What is a
Pre-Authorized Payment Plan?
If you have any
type of bank account with withdrawal privileges, you can take advantage of this
system. An authorization certificate must be filled in and returned with a
cheque marked "VOID". This will allow the Township to automatically withdraw
your tax payments from your bank account on a monthly or due date basis
depending on the option selected.
Download the Tax Payment Options
Form.
What are the
benefits?
The Pre-authorized Payment
Plan will:
- Allow you to make smaller, more regular payments on your property taxes
- Eliminate writing, stamping and mailing cheques
- Eliminate the time, effort
and cost of making payments at our office or local bank
- Avoid keeping track
of due dates and the potential for missing payments
- Avoid the risk of lost
cheques or mail delays
- Avoid interest charges associated with the
above
How does the Plan
work?
In order to accommodate as
many taxpayers as possible, we are offering three different options under the
Pre-authorized Payment Plan.
Option
1 - Equal monthly payments for current taxes
This option is available to
taxpayers who have no arrears. Ten percent (10%) of your previous year's taxes
will be withdrawn each of the first ten months - January to October. If there
is an increase in the tax rate or adjustment for the current year, the balance
will be withdrawn in November. There will be no payment in December. A letter
will be sent in January of the current year to indicate what the 10 monthly
payments for the coming year will be. Interim bills are issued for information
purposes. When the final tax bill is issued in September, it will indicate what
the total year's taxes are and the current balance as at the date of
billing.
Option
2 - Payments on the regular due dates
This option
is for taxpayers who have no arrears and wish to continue to pay the four tax
instalments but have them paid directly out of their bank account. The interim
tax bill and final tax bill will still be issued to you so you will know the
instalment amounts and the due date for the automatic payments to be
withdrawn.
Option
3 - Monthly Payment of Arrears
This option is available to
taxpayers who have arrears on their tax account. In order to implement this
option you must contact the
Treasurer, or
Tax
Collector to discuss your level of arrears. The
monthly amount to be paid must be at a level that will pay your account in a
reasonable amount of time. Consequently the amount must be agreed upon by both
parties to ensure funds will be available and the account does get paid.
Interest will still be calculated on outstanding amounts. Once the tax account
is paid in full, then you would be able to choose Option 1 or Option
2.
Please contact the
Tax
Department if you need further
information.
