Tarentum may delay publicizing names of delinquent taxpayers

Tarentum may not release a list of hundreds of delinquent property taxpayers as expected this week.

In February, council approved posting the names of those owing property taxes on the borough’s website starting Wednesday.

But on Monday, borough Manager Michael Nestico said he wants to get more direction from council and may wait until after the May 9 council meeting to publish the names.

“The reason would be to clear up a few names on the list, which I believe would be ripe for exoneration,” he said. “There are some properties that owe minimal amounts of taxes dating back several decades. In some cases, it probably costs more to send out notices than it does to simply exonerate the taxes.”

Nestico said the borough has compiled most of the data. There are about 480 tax delinquent properties.

“I am still working to iron out details for roughly 10 to 15 of them. So nothing is official yet,” he said.

Nestico previously said the borough is owed nearly $670,000 in unpaid property taxes from 1978 to 2017. More than half is owed from 2013 to 2017.

Property owners can have their names removed from the list by paying what is owed or making payment arrangements with the borough.