Carbon County has entered into an agreement to have the county treasurer collect real estate taxes for Weissport in 2026.

During the county commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, the board approved three motions regarding the tax collection in Weissport. The borough’s tax collector resigned in January and a second applicant for the position rescinded her application in earlier this month.

The two resolutions that the commissioners adopted authorizes Treasurer Kevin Zelienka’s office to collect Weissport’s real estate taxes for calendar year 2026.

The agreement with the borough outlines the terms of the tax collection services by the treasurer and sets the annual fee for Weissport to pay Carbon County at $3,000 plus $15 per piece for each tax certification and $20 each if a fax response is required.

County solicitor Robert Frycklund said that this is an option for municipalities when they cannot get a person to replace a tax collector.

A similar situation happened a few years ago in Parryville.

“In this case in Weissport, the tax collector resigned and they did appoint a replacement, who then promptly resigned too,” Frycklund said. “The timing couldn’t be worse because tax bills were already being printed.”

He added that Weissport will still need to field candidates for the position for 2027, however this action provides them with some time to do so.

“This is just a temporary fix.”

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko asked Frycklund if smaller municipalities like Weissport and Parryville can join together to have a regional tax collector.

Frycklund said that is one option that could be looked at for municipalities if they so desire.

He pointed out that an immediate thing municipalities should be doing to make sure a situation comes up like this one is to have a deputy tax collector in place who could step in in the event the tax collector resigns or cannot fulfill the office’s duties.

Zelienka said that his office has reached out to the tax collectors to make sure they have a deputy in place, however the problem they are finding is that the deputies don’t want to take on the task of tax collector if a resignation or other issue arises.

In January, then tax collector Lynette Moyer resigned following a heated discussion over $38,000 in delinquent garbage bills.

Councilman Tim Rehrig said at that meeting that about half the town isn’t paying their taxes, showing he figured about 210 residents were paying when the population of the borough is just over 400.

It was announced that Carbon County and Lehighton Area School District would temporarily provide tax collection services to Weissport.

At council’s March meeting, applicant Shelley Fisher withdrew her application to fill the vacancy. The borough then announced that applications for the tax collector position are being accepted.