Porter County launched its new online tax program this morning.

The new program allows the public to look up a maximum of 30 different tax parcels, with the ability to request additional searches.

The Porter County Commissioners last week approved a contract with the new vendor, Advanced Micro-Electronics, which is providing the online data at no charge to the county. However, the company is collecting a 2.95 percent fee for taxpayers who wish to pay their tax bill online with a credit card. County Commissioner President Robert Harper said he wants to see if the county can lift that fee.

The online service became available just as taxpayers in three Pine Township districts received their pay-2008 tax bills. The tax bills for Beverly Shores, The Pines, and the unincorporated part of Pine Township in the Michigan City School Corporation have been delayed because of assessment data problems in LaPorte County and software conversion problems in Porter County.

The county still needs to issue its 2009 tax bills. The latest projection is that these bills will go out sometime in October.

To look up tax bills online, go to www.porterco.org

 and click on the “tax information” link.

Posted 8/24/2009