Coaldale residents who do not pay their municipal real estate taxes on time next year could be hearing from a collections agency.

Borough council voted 5-0 Tuesday night to name Portnoff Law Associates as its appointed collector for delinquent property taxes.

Portnoff will replace the Schuylkill County Tax Claim Bureau, which has been the borough’s delinquent tax collector for years.

“Instead of going to tax claim bureau over at Pottsville courthouse, it’ll go to Portnoff instead. Schuylkill County courthouse usually waits two years before they actually try to push the issue and collect the taxes. Portnoff doesn’t have to,” said Robert Yurchak, council solicitor.

Property owners get property tax bills twice a year — March and July. Boroughs send out theirs in March, and schools do it in July.

If a taxpayer doesn’t pay their borough property tax bill by the end of the year, it gets sent to the borough’s delinquent tax collector.

The delinquent tax collector then tacks on its own fees. Portnoff charges 10 percent per year. Schuylkill County tax claim charges 9 percent.

Portnoff also charges its own fees — starting at $175 for an “initial review and sending first demand letter.”

Borough tax collector Cathy Papesh said the borough should inform taxpayers of the upcoming change, because Portnoff is more aggressive than the tax claim bureau. She said some residents will pay school taxes first because they are also sent to Portnoff.

“A lot of people pay the school taxes first because there’s a little bit of leniency,” she said.

Portnoff, which is based in the Philadelphia area, has been taking on more responsibilities with the borough.

Last June, the borough tapped Portnoff to collect unpaid garbage bills from customers in the borough. At the time, the total in unpaid bills was more than $100,000. Portnoff has returned over $43,000 to the borough as of this month.

In May, the borough decided to add sewer transmission fees to the list of bills which Portnoff collects.