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New Payment Plans For Seniors And Disabled Persons In Bexar County

Eileen Pace
/
TPR News

People who pay their property taxes directly to the county have some new options starting Oct. 1. when the Bexar County tax assessor’s office introduces a monthly payment option to help fixed-income property owners more easily budget for their taxes.

Until now most taxpayers have had to pay their whole year of taxes in one lump sum. Seniors and disabled property owners have had two options: Pay the whole thing or pay in half-payments.

"I’m excited to finally bring monthly payments and pre-payment plans along with automatic deductions to the citizens of Bexar County as promised,” Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector Albert Uresti told reporters at a press conference.

Uresti said this meets a need among taxpayers who may have trouble getting to the tax office. 

“We were concerned about our senior citizens having to come downtown and do paperwork," he said. "So the way we’ve set up this system is, by making the payment, they’ll have several options to choose from. And once they make this payment, that will automatically enroll them into the 10-month payment plan, the quarterly payment plan, or the half payment plant."

A big part of the program was getting the technology for the tax office. Uresti said the option payment plan is the first of its kind in the state and he hopes it can be expanded to all taxpayers in Bexar County after the initial enrollment of those on fixed incomes.

Eileen Pace is a veteran radio and print journalist with a long history of investigative and feature reporting in San Antonio and Houston, earning more than 50 awards for investigative reporting, documentaries, long-form series, features, sports stories, outstanding anchoring and best use of sound.