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The mailing of real estate bills in Luzerne County school districts has been pushed back from Aug. 1 to Aug. 19, county officials told districts Tuesday.
County officials had imposed the initial delay to Aug. 1 because a Memorial Day weekend cyber attack infected the county’s real estate assessment database.
With an outside forensic retrieval unable to unlock the county’s database backup, the county administration asked the database software provider — Evaluator Services and Technology Inc. — to assemble a real estate file that can be used to generate school tax bills, officials said.
The administration had hoped this file would be submitted to the county July 23.
However, county Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnik said Monday the file may not be ready until Aug. 5.
That new date was confirmed Tuesday in a memo county Budget/Finance Division Head Brian Swetz sent to school district business managers and administrators.
According to this communication:
Since the last county notice to school districts June 27, the county has been working closely with the database software provider and printing vendors on a remediation plan.
The county expects to receive its remediated file Aug. 5, which extends the anticipated bill issue date to Aug. 19 due to other processing that must be completed.
Once received, the file must be verified by the county assessment office to “ensure accuracy” of the data before bills are mailed. The county is “committed to providing all required information to the school districts and tax collectors as soon as possible.”
The memo again thanks districts for their “patience in this challenging time” and notes another update will only be issued if the mailing date must be changed.
School bills must be mailed by Aug. 30 to allow property owners to pay for two months at a discounted rate and another two months at the full, or “face” amount, without penalties, officials have said. School districts also rely on the major tax revenue stream.
Most school districts in the county usually mail their tax bills the third and fourth weeks in July, records show.
In 2018, Berwick Area sent its bills the first week of July, and bills were mailed around the end of the second week of July in the Dallas School District.
Two districts — Greater Nanticoke Area and Northwest Area — mailed their bills the first week of August last year.
The assessor’s office has been unable to update database property information since the county courthouse network was shut down May 28 to prevent the virus from spreading. Assessment workers have been keeping track of parcel alterations through a log, the administration said.