Having no candidates elected in November — to include no write-ins — would open the door for municipalities to appoint the county as its tax collector, the commissioners said.

It’s probably their only option to vacate the publicly elected four-year positions, according to Janel Miller, deputy press secretary with the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

“Tax collectors have been around since Pennsylvania became a state over 200 years ago,” Miller said. “Eliminating this position altogether would require an act of legislation that is, in turn, signed by the governor.”

The Pennsylvania Economy League backs Union County officials’ belief they can significantly cut into the $315,840 the county pays in tax collection by adjusting the local collecting system.

The league documented excessive costs in collecting real estate taxes in a survey two years ago of a 12-county area in central and eastern Pennsylvania, which found that taxing authorities could save nearly $3 million just by lowering the cost of compensation for all tax collectors to the lowest rate reported in the region.

More savings can be made through consolidation or other efficiency-related changes, the survey reported.

Union County wasn’t alone this week in cutting tax compensation rates.

Selinsgrove officials lowered the borough’s rate Monday from 3 percent to 2 1/4 percent with a cap of $11,000 from 2010 to 2013. John Bickhart, borough manager, said the decision was made to adjust with the increasing real estate tax revenue — not to discourage future candidacies.

“We’ve always been aware of the amount of money being spent on (tax collecting),” Bickhart said. “It’s always seemed to be a pretty high number.”

Bickhart said Union County’s move to save money may seem enticing for other counties to follow but may not work in Snyder County, which has a slightly different billing system.

“I don’t favor lowering compensation rates to the point to where nobody will run for office,” Bickhart said. “It may work in situations like Union County has. To me, in Snyder County, that would not be efficient.”

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