Millvale’s tax collector has yet to deposit around $600,000 in property tax payments he received in 2025 to the Shaler Area School District, and borough officials and residents are raising concerns.

Scott Davis, Millvale’s tax collector for 13 years, said he plans to deposit the $600,000 by Friday of this week. The payment, he added, was due in June.

Davis said payments to the borough are caught up while deposits to the school district have been delayed. He said there are no excuses but explained that he was out of office due to personal issues including a recent car accident that left him with a concussion.

“This year has just been a cacophony of things,” he said. “I wanted to have everything in early last week.”

Millvale Manager Seth Abrams said Davis’ delayed deposits impact the residents and municipal bodies.

“It is an issue that is shared by both the school district and the borough,” Abrams said. “Residents will make payments and these checks will not be cashed in a specific amount of time.”

Millvale has received roughly $1.18 million in property tax deposits out of the $1.25 million council is expecting by Dec. 31, Abrams said.

Shaler Area School District Finance Director Kimberly Pawlishak said the school board has received only about $101,000 of a $2.3 million property tax revenue projection. The amount is only 4% of what the school district is owed.

“We generally expect to receive about 60% of that by October,” Pawlishak said.

Davis’ most recent deposit to the school board was made in August, she said.

Late payment issues surfaced last week during a Millvale Council meeting, where a woman raised concerns that the Shaler Area School District had not received her tax payment, Abrams said.

While the woman declined to comment, Davis said a “handful” of residents each year are wrongfully marked delinquent in the tax filing system due to “clerical errors.”

Both Abrams and Davis said residents have received tax notices marking them “delinquent” even after submitting payments.

“The taxpayers are affected greatly,” Pawlishak said. “When you write a check, you assume it’s going to be cleared timely in the system.”

Davis said people cannot be fined for his failure to deposit their payment, and he advised residents who suspect an error to call his office.

“The big thing is if residents have an issue, they can call me or stop in,” Davis said. “I don’t have an issue. … I don’t bite.”

Pawlishak said tax collectors ideally make deposits on a weekly basis.

“What I can see is just that if payments are being received from the taxpayer to the tax collector, they are not being recorded correctly and they are not being deposited in timely manner,” Pawlishak said.

Abrams said a borough ordinance requires payments be submitted to the borough on the 1st and 15th of each month. Davis said he generally aims to submit deposits on a biweekly basis and make deposits to the borough on the 15th and 30th of each month.

Davis also said he generally tries to deposit residents’ checks within a week of receiving them but has been unable to do so while he waits for medical clearance to drive.

Abrams said the borough contacted Davis, primarily through email, about deposit timelines and concerns. In August, council issued Davis a $100 fine for submitting monthly accounting paperwork late, Abrams said.

Abrams said the paperwork, known as reconciliation or a prior month statement, chronicles every transaction made by the tax collector, and is due on the 10th of each month as per a Millvale ordinance.

Davis disputed that deadline, saying it’s “not a formal date.”

Abrams said Davis has not yet submitted his prior month statement for September.

In addition, Abrams said there have been “very large” gaps in projected tax revenue and actual tax revenue for Millvale.

In 2024, the borough budgeted $740,000 in property tax revenue and received $629,446.

Right now, the borough is sitting at an 84% tax collection rate.

Abrams said while no borough ever collects 100% of its tax income, his belief is that municipalities’ tax collection rates should be at least 90%. The school board has a projected 95% tax collection rate.

“Unfortunately, there’s a job to be done,” Abrams said. “There are over 3,000 residents that are counting on the tax collector to accurately account for their funds and to transfer them to the borough.”

Both Pawlishak and Abrams said their entities are reviewing the matter.