Bethlehem Central School District > Archive > Tax payment update: Penalty-free deadline extended to Oct. 2
Posted on

Tax payment update: Penalty-free deadline extended to Oct. 2

Taxpayers in the Bethlehem Central School District will have two extra days to pay their tax bills this year without incurring any penalty. The due date for school tax bill payment (without penalty) is Monday, Oct. 2, 2023 instead of the usual September 30 deadline. Tax bills that were mailed to residents on behalf of the Bethlehem Central School District included the Sept. 30 date as the deadline for penalty-free payments.

The Office of the New York State Comptroller allows for the penalty-free period for payment of real property taxes to be extended to the next business day if the customary Sept. 30 deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or on a holiday. This year, since September 30 falls on a Saturday, the deadline has been extended to Monday, Oct. 2. 

For the 2023-24 tax year, the District will consider electronic payments, payments made directly at the Pioneer Bank, and/or payments deposited in the District’s drop box before the close of business as timely if they are received on or before Monday, October 2, 2023. For payments received via United States Postal Service, payments will be considered timely if the piece of mail has a clearly identified postmark date of Monday, October 2, 2023 or earlier. If postal payments are received after October 2, 2023 they will still be considered timely if the postmark is no later than October 2, 2023.

Paying your tax bill

The district uses a consolidated payment system administered by Capital Region BOCES. You have several options for paying school taxes:

PLEASE NOTE: Tax payments cannot be accepted at the Town of Bethlehem offices.

  • Mail-In Payments (must be clearly postmarked by USPS on or before Oct. 2, 2023 to avoid penalty): Checks should be made payable to the Bethlehem Central Tax Collector.
  • Mail payment**, along with the appropriate bill stub to:
    Bethlehem Central School District

    • Bethlehem Central High School
      School Tax Collector
      700 Delaware Avenue
      Delmar, NY 12054
    • Drop box located at the Main Entrance to the high school (must be received on or before Oct. 2, 2023 to avoid penalty)
  • In-Person Payments (must be received on or before Oct. 2, 2023 to avoid penalty): This option is only available from Sept.1 through Oct. 31. No payments can be accepted after October 31. In order to make your school tax payment in person, you must bring your entire bill with you to one of the following locations:
    • Pioneer Bank – Delmar Branch 184 Delaware Avenue, Delmar M-W: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Th-F: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    • Pioneer Bank – Glenmont Branch 329 Glenmont Road, Glenmont M-W: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Th-F: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,  Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
  • Online Payments (must be received on or before Oct. 2, 2023 to avoid penalty):
    • Credit card: Pay your school taxes using your Visa, Mastercard or Discover credit card. Click here to be taken to our online payment provider’s site. Their fee includes a 2.35% site fee (a per-item minimum of $2 is charged for all transactions) and a $10 charge-back fee for credit cards.
    • E-check: This is a convenient, fully automated electronic payment system allowing you to pay taxes directly from your checking or savings account. Please make sure that e-checks are allowed on the account you are using.  A $0.50 fee is charged on all settled transactions, and $15 will be charged for checks returned due to non-sufficient funds. Click here to pay by E-check.

Look up your tax bill information

Residents of the Bethlehem Central School District can look up their school tax bill online by clicking on this link.