Tax bills are on their way, according to Beaufort County government officials.

County Tax Assessor Bobby Parker said the bills were given their final once-over at the printers on Friday and will be printed and mailed by Monday evening.

More than 54,000 invoices for real and personal property will be mailed out. The invoicing may seem to be business as usual, but there is one major change in the process this year: the address to which checks can be mailed is no longer local. Tax bills’ return address, instead, reads Beaufort County Tax Collector, P.O. Box 6029, Hermitage, Pennsylvania 16148-1029.

The return address represents a shift to a more cost-effective processing of the payments, according to Parker.

“We’re using a lock box. They’re going to be opening the envelopes,” Parker said. “It’s all going to be done electronically. They have scan codes so it makes sure it will get to the right account.”

Parker said the new service will make the process a lot easier for the tax office when property owners begin sending in their payments.

“It does away with having, in the latter part of December, early January, the mail that backs up, and we can’t keep opening it as fast as it comes in. So this will take care of that,” Parker said.

Bills state the due date is Sept. 1, but property owners have a grace period before interest starts being charged on unpaid amounts, starting Jan. 7, 2019.