Schuylkill County, as well as its municipalities and school districts, will benefit from a pending increase in per capita collections. County Treasurer Linda Marchalk briefed the Schuylkill County Commissioners on a project she launched in June 2018.

Marchalk said that she put together a committee, which included Pottsville Area School District business Manager Brian Manning and Mahanoy Area business Manager Jack Hurst. The committee diligently compared real estate tax bill listings to per capita bill listings. Those two business managers reached out to other county school districts.

“Per capita” means “by head” and is sometimes called a head tax, which is levied by various taxing authorities. The county, school district as well as a township or borough can levy a per capita tax.

“There should always be more per capita bills than there are real estate bills,” Marchalk said. “But that wasn’t the case, and no one was taking ownership of the issue.”

Through the committee efforts, an additional 4,916 per capita bills will be sent, Marchalk said.

“The county charges $5 per capita; the amount varies in what the various school districts and municipalities charge,” she said. “Anyone who has earned more than $5,000 and is over the age of 18 should be paying the tax.”

Marchalk also submitted the 2018 Real Estate and Per Capita Annual Tax Collections Report for the commissioners’ review and approval at their next meeting. In the Times News coverage area, Schuylkill Township is at 90 percent, and Rush, Walker and West Penn, 96 percent. Coaldale is at 84 percent, and Tamaqua is at 86 percent.

Marchalk provided the treasurer’s report for January 2019. The ending balance for all accounts is $42,074,222. That includes $16,899,905 in the general fund; $21,423,312 in other county funds; $5,854,952 in county agencies and $348,721 in workers’ compensation.