Nesquehoning is beginning the process of looking to obtain an outside agency to collect unpaid real estate taxes.

During council’s monthly meeting last Monday, borough council voted to begin the process of hiring Portnoff Law Associates for its delinquent tax collector.

Councilwoman Rosemary Porembo, chairwoman of the budget and finance committee, explained that in 2020, 157 households did not pay their real estate taxes and that represented $74,944 delinquent, which is over 1 mill.

She reminded council that it had to raise borough taxes by 0.75 mill for 2021, adding that if the $74,000 would have been paid, the tax increase wouldn’t have been necessary.

“This idea to bring Portnoff in is to make people understand that the real estate tax cannot just keep piling up year after year,” Porembo said. “It’s a way make a suggestion that the priority to pay your real estate tax should be your first priority, because the only people who it is hurting are the people who are paying their taxes.

“I think it is something to start changing the behavior of the way we live here in Nesquehoning,” she added.

Porembo explained that all fees would be the delinquent taxpayer’s responsibility, rather than the borough’s.

After some questions from her colleagues, council voted to begin the process with final adoption by the end of the year.