Berkheimer and Associates of Bangor will continue collecting earned income taxes in Carbon County.

During the Carbon County Tax Collection Committee's meeting on Wednesday, the group decided to renew the contract with Berkheimer for three years, effective Jan. 1, 2015.Berkheimer will continue collecting earned income taxes for all municipalities and school districts in the county with a rate of 1.73 percent commission, up from 1.5 percent this year.Donna McGarry, committee secretary, said that there have been no complaints with services since Berkheimer took over operations in 2012, after former EIT tax collector Central Tax Bureau of Pennsylvania Inc., was fired for failing to process and distribute earned income taxes to municipalities and school districts.Berkheimer worked to obtain all records from Centax and sort out the issues created by the previous collector.The Carbon County Tax Collection Committee was formed in October 2009 because of Act 32 of 2008, which amends the Local Tax Enabling Act.Under Act 32, counties were required to form a countywide collection committee, comprising delegates from each municipality and school district within the county, and hire one tax collector who would be responsible for the collection of earned income tax.The law states that this reduction in the amount of earned income tax collectors would provide for quicker money turnarounds, which means municipalities and school districts should get paid sooner.The Carbon County Tax Collection Committee members include delegates from Jim Thorpe, Kidder Township, Penn Forest Township, East Penn Township, Franklin Township, Lehighton, Mahoning Township, Parryville, Weissport, Bowmanstown, Lower Towamensing Township, Palmerton, Towamensing Township, Lansford, Nesquehoning, Summit Hill, Coaldale, East Side, Lausanne Township, Lehigh Township, Packer Township and Weatherly; as well as Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Palmerton, Panther Valley and Weatherly school districts.