June 10, 2007 Primary Foil announced its new company name MuniTrax at the New York Training School for Tax Collecting Officials Conference in Syracuse, New York. Since 2001 MuniTrax has been a leading provider of online tax and municipal payment solutions.

The branding of MuniTrax has been a process that began in late 2006 to reflect the growing success of Primary Foil becoming the pre-eminent choice of municipalities for online tax and municipal payments. The MuniTrax brand reflects the company’s focus on the security of its clients’ information, the success of its national growth and the utilization of the latest state-of-the-art technology. The bold new look of MuniTrax reflects a commitment to becoming the only choice for online tax payment solutions.

MuniTrax began posting complete property tax bills on its website in January of 2001. Initial clients for the use of this new online system were title companies, mortgage banks and tax-servicing companies. Since the property tax cycle is as short as thirty calendar days in the northeast U.S., businesses typically must work at a feverish pace to obtain information, process it and deliver the payments back to the municipalities or incur costly fees and penalties. Often, these companies will enter into costly contracts with a “tax search firm” or employ expensive teams of “searchers”, who literally travel from town hall to town hall scanning the tax rolls for information on required accounts. With MuniTrax, the information is made available to registered business customers as soon as the municipality releases it.

In 2005, at the request of several municipalities, MuniTrax developed a system exclusively for municipalities and individual taxpayers to experience the advantage of online property tax payments. When MuniTrax partners with a municipality, all parties win. The municipality meets its customer service requirements with little or no human resources expended; taxpayers have a timely and automated means of receiving, managing and paying property tax bills and are armed with up-to-date information. The MuniTrax system provides a Town’s taxpayers with a secure path to the electronic version of the tax bill for viewing, printing, payment and archival purposes. The system provides high quality tax statements in a convenient interface while reducing the opportunity for individuals to use the data for other than its intended purposes through secure registrations and user level restrictions. This all adds up to a cycle of efficiency that occurs several times annually, generating growing and consistent value for the municipality and the taxpayer.

On August 14, 2007 the Town of North Hempstead selected MuniTrax from six bidders as their online tax payment solution. The MuniTrax payment solution is currently installed in municipalities that combined collect over 3 billon dollars in annual property taxes. To learn more about MuniTrax contact their government sales team at 866.739.3869 or email gov@munitrax.com.

North Hempstead residents who prefer not to rely on the mail or schlep to town hall at the last minute to avoid a late fee will soon be able to pay their taxes online using a credit card or check, town officials said.

On Tuesday the town board authorized an agreement with Primary Foil Services Llc of Albany as the provider for the online service.

The program is scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, three months before the due date of the first half of 2007-2008 school taxes, town officials said.

In offering property owners the option to pay their taxes electronically, North Hempstead joins a number of other Long Island municipalities, including Huntington, Smithtown, Oyster Bay and Hempstead, using online payment.

North Hempstead's move into the age of electronic government - the town recently held its first online auction of obsolete vehicles and equipment - ultimately will give residents the ability to conduct town-related business such as applying for building permits or a dog license online.

One of the primary benefits for businesses and homeowners will be access to accurate electronic versions of their tax statements as soon as they are available, said Rocco Iannarelli, North Hempstead's receiver of taxes.

Taxpayers will have to pay for the convenience, however. Credit card users will be charged a fee, between 2.5 and 2.75 percent of their total bill, Iannarelli said. That would amount to about $50-75 on an average tax bill, he said

"I would hope people would use it responsibly," Iannarelli said.

He added that payments by check will be assessed a $4 fee while late payments will incur a 2-percent penalty.

Town of Oyster Bay residents have been able to pay their taxes online for the past 18 months, said James Stefanich, the tax receiver.

He estimated that 20,000 taxpayers pay by credit card online - about 20 percent of the town's taxpaying population.

"I am very happy with this system and the level of automation and convenience," Stefanich said.

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

(Oyster Bay, New York ) - James J. Stefanich, the Town of Oyster Bay Receiver of Taxes, announced today that his office is now providing town citizens with on-line access to their real property tax bills and accepting on-line payments through the Town’s web site located at www.oysterbaytown.com. The system being utilized by the Town was developed in partnership with Primary FOIL Services™, a Carle Place, NY-based internet content services provider to local governments throughout the northeast United States. The system was developed specifically for the Town and residents of Oyster Bay and effectively balances convenient access to critical information other than the mailing of paper statements while maintaining a sophisticated level of data security.

Through the system, a taxpayer may register online for free/no-cost access to their town/school real property tax statements. Taxpayers may log in anytime to view, print, or check the payment status of their real property tax bills to ensure that the Town has received a payment. Additionally, for a “service fee,” taxpayers will also being able to pay their tax bills via credit card or ACH (electronic check) payment.

Credit Card and Electronic Check payments will be processed by the system through Primary FOIL Services™ partnership with Global Payments, Inc.®, one of the world’s largest electronic payment processors and ClearTran®, a NJ based online payment security solutions provider.

Town of Oyster Bay, NY Receiver of Taxes Jim Stefanich states “This system is the first of its kind in our state and has been provided at no cost to our town and residents. The demand for online payment options has grown exponentially in the past few years and many services and companies were reviewed before selecting this system for the Town of Oyster Bay. It successfully marries information, convenience, security and value better than any other service of this type in the marketplace and represents a true value to the taxpayers of Oyster Bay for many years to come”.

To learn more about the system, please feel free to visit www.oysterbaytown.com or contact the Receiver of Taxes’ office at 516-624-6421.