The Delaware County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution approving a proposal from JPMorgan Chase Bank during its meeting on Dec. 22 that will reduce the fees associated with paying property taxes electronically in Delaware County.

Delaware County Treasurer Don Rankey Jr. and his office negotiated the proposal from JPMorgan Chase Bank in an effort to assist Delaware County residents and businesses during inflationary times. In a press release announcing the effort, Rankey credited the partnership his office has cultivated with JPMorgan Chase and Paymentus, which has resulted in their “willingness to reduce convenience fees substantially for the payment of property taxes.”

Under the new pricing guidelines, electronic checks will carry a flat fee of 85 cents. Currently, the cost is $2 for property tax payments up to $10,000 and $10 for payments exceeding $10,000. The fee reduction represents 58% in savings for the “average taxpayer,” according to the release.

All property tax payments made with a credit or debit card will carry a flat fee of $3.95 rather than the 2.5% charge currently assessed to the payment amount. The treasurer’s office will also introduce new digital wallet payment methods, including Venmo, Paypal, ApplePay, and GooglePay that will carry the same flat fee.

Rick Karr, chief investment officer for the treasurer’s office, said that through Paymentus, residents will also be able to pay property taxes at retail locations such as Walmart.

According to Rankey, a taxpayer paying $10,000 in property taxes will save nearly $250 with the flat fee as opposed to the current 2.5%. Other nonproperty tax payments on a credit card transaction through the new program will be reduced from the current 2.5% to 2.35%.

The new fee structure will go into effect in the mid-first quarter of 2023 for the 2022 real estate property tax year.

“From day one, I’ve been looking for ways to ease the financial burden on our Delaware County taxpayers,” Rankey said. “We all feel the pain of increasing prices at the grocery store and at the gas pump. I challenged my team to work on ways that we can enhance services and reduce costs. Today, we have achieved this by working with our partners at JP Morgan Chase and the ePaymentus service. This is one way that our taxpayers can continue to have the convenience of using a credit card or an electronic payment system while keeping more of their hard-earned money.”

Rankey went on to say, “While I don’t control the amount of property taxes that you pay, I can try to make it simple, minimize the transactional cost, and provide convenient payment location options for our Delaware County taxpayers.”

The commissioners also approved an additional provision with LexisNexis payment services for use with the Delaware County Clerk of Courts and integration with the court’s Courtview system. The provision will help improve the financial operations and efficiencies with the courts for the payment of various fees.

Prior to the vote, Karr said the proposal is a “win-win” for the county and its residents, and Commissioner Barb Lewis called it a “definite improvement” over the current fees.