Eligible Garfield County residents can now pay property taxes in monthly installments through a third-party escrow service.

The county currently allows property taxpayers to pay via two half-payments, usually made on Feb. 28 and June 15, or a full payment on April 30.  Through the third-party service EscrowTaxes, eligible property owners in Garfield County can now spread payments out with automatic monthly payments. 

The service calculates payment amounts based on when and how much property taxes are due and charges a bank account or credit card on the 15th of each month, according to a Wednesday news release from Garfield County. 

A $1 fee will be charged for payments from bank accounts with a 2.5% processing fee for credit cards. Those who enroll in the service can also prepay estimated property taxes for the coming year, which are underwritten by Huntington National Bank and will be sent to the county 10 days before the taxes are due, according to the release. 

Autoagent — which processes taxes in 49 Colorado counties — created the third-party escrow service after prompting by treasures from Garfield, El Paso and Larimer counties. 

The proposal was presented in response to state legislation introduced in February — and postponed indefinitely in March — that aimed to give Coloradans more time to pay property taxes but would have increased operating costs at Garfield County’s treasure’s office by around $100,000, according to Carrie Couey, Garfield County treasurer and public trustee. 

“We have already sent this information to the legislators who keep pushing the installment payment plan,” Couey told Garfield County Commissioners during the regular Board of County Commissioners meeting on Monday. “We think that we’ve staved off the problems where it was going to cost our county $100,000 to implement the legislation that they wanted to push.”

Eligible counties across Colorado can opt into the plan and residents can then sign up for the service at escrowtaxes.com. EscrowTaxes is the first third-party escrow service offered statewide. 

“We’re very excited because this is the first time it has been offered statewide,” Couey said on Monday. “There’s a couple of municipalities that have tried it, but Colorado is the first state to try this statewide. I was proud to be a part of it.”