Advisory for Property Tax Payers
USPS policy change on postmarks may affect tax payments
Fox Crossing is encouraging residents who pay their property tax bills by mail to be aware of a recent U.S. Postal Service policy change that may affect when envelopes are postmarked.
In August 2025, the Postal Service instituted a nationwide change as to when a postmark is affixed to incoming mail. Instead of postmarks being affixed when the item is first touched by the Postal Service, postmarks are now stamped at regional sorting centers.
That means your postmark could be several days after you put it in your mailbox. In other words, if you plan to pay your property taxes by mail, don’t wait until right before the deadline to put it in the mail.
Many federal and state laws define timely payment based off the USPS postmark, meaning payments may be considered delinquent if they are mailed too close to the deadline — even if they were, in fact, placed in a mailbox before the deadline.
The repercussions for not paying your property tax bill 1st installment on time is that the full tax bill is now due and payable. This means that you no longer have an installment option for tax payments. Additionally, interest is charged at 1% per month on the full tax bill.
To avoid this issue the Village encourages property taxpayers to mail payments earlier to avoid becoming delinquent and accruing substantial late fees. Please also be aware that sending payments utilizing your personal bank’s online bill payment are mostly mailed to the Village, so there is a danger those could arrive late and become delinquent as well. This type of payment has become even more problematic in recent years as the time it takes for USPS items to arrive at its destination after mailing has increased. If you do use this option, please make sure to schedule your payment much earlier than you would have in the past.
Another possible solution could be to physically bring your payment into the post office and request that they postmark your payment in front of you or by sending it certified mail.
If in doubt, the best solution is to pay your property taxes at our Municipal Complex or at two Community First Credit Union locations (Dresang Way & Oneida Street). At Community First Credit Union you must use the lobby to pay; the drive-up option is NOT available for tax payments.
More information about collections, payment options, and other tax information is available on our property tax information page.