City Payment Center Offers Tips to Speed Processing Times for Property Tax Payments

Payment volumes impacts bill status reflected online

The City Payment Center (CPC) is sharing tips on submitting April property tax payments for faster processing when paying online, by mail or via the Market Street drop box. Property owners who clearly indicate which bill they are paying, preferably using a payment coupon, always receive first priority.  

“One of the most common reasons for delays, in which property owners will not see their checks clear or their payment updated online, is because staff spend time figuring out what is being paid and re-creating the required documentation for each payment,” said Martha Maywalt, first deputy commissioner of the Department of Finance. “When customers clearly provide the right name, address and dollar amount to be applied to each bill, our ability to reconcile payments quickly improves drastically.”

Payments due in April should be made using the following instructions to reduce the turnaround time:

• Online at https://syracuse.go2gov.net (a convenience fee, payable to the online vendor – not the City – applies for each property paid online):
  • Credit card charged or debit card/bank account debited almost immediately.
  • Online payment site provides receipt via email and immediately reflects payment has been made.

• Lockbox (JP Morgan Chase Processing Center (P.O. Box 5271 Binghamton, NY 13902)):
  • Check is deposited within 24 hours of receipt and City records are updated 48 hours after receipt when
    • coupon(s) or payment stub(s) are sent with the check(s);
      • payment amount(s) match coupon amount(s); and
      • no stray marks or tears are on the coupon scanline (the string of characters on the bottom of the coupon). 
    • If the payment can’t be processed by the processing center (“Lockbox”), it will be sent overnight to the City Payment Center for manual processing.
    • Postmark date is honored.

• For Online Banking, customers using their bank’s online payment service will have a paper check mailed to the City. These payments will be accepted electronically later in the year of 2021:
  • Setup instructions
    • use the City Payment Center address (see Syracuse mail address below); and  
    • use the 10-digit Property # as Account #. (The property # can be located on each tax bill or can be found online.)
    • Since the online banking service will mail a check without the coupon, each payment will be

processed manually at the City Payment Center.

• See payments Mailed directly to City Hall.

• Mailed directly to City Hall or sent in via the Drop Box:
  • Mailing Address: City Payment Center, 233 E. Washington St. – # 122, Syracuse, NY 13202.
  • the Drop Box is located on the Market Street side of City Hall.
    • Payment coupon(s) should be provided with each payment. Payments that are complete (have the corresponding coupons) will be expedited.
    • Payments without coupons should have the property address or property # written on the check.
    • Oldest payments and payments that are “complete” are processed first.
    • Postmark date or Drop Box date is honored.

Property owners have the entire month of April to pay April property taxes (City-School 2020-21 and County 2021) without penalty. CPC staff asks that a period of two weeks is allowed for processing prior to customers calling to check on the status of April tax payments.