County Treasurer advises USPS policy change
on postmarks may affect tax payments

Buffalo County Treasurer Tina Anibas is encouraging residents who pay their property tax bills by mail to be aware of a recent U.S. Postal Service policy change that may affect when envelopes are postmarked.

In August 2025, the Postal Service instituted a nationwide change as to when a postmark is affixed to incoming mail, Anibas said. Instead of postmarks being affixed when the item is first touched by the Postal Service, postmarks are now stamped at regional sorting centers.

“That means your postmark could be several days after you put it in your mailbox,” Anibas said. “In other words, if you plan to pay your property taxes by mail, don’t wait until right before the deadline to put it in the mail.”

Anibas noted that federal and state laws define timely payment based off the USPS postmark, meaning payments may be considered delinquent if they are mailed too close to the deadline — even if they were, in fact, placed in a mailbox before the deadline.

To avoid this issue, Anibas encourages Buffalo County property taxpayers to mail payments earlier or to use the E-check option to pay online to avoid becoming delinquent and accruing substantial late fees.

“While credit card payments often come with a significant 2.39% convenience fee, debit card is $3.95 and E-check is a flat $1.50 per payment which comes out to about the same as postage for your payment and a return receipt,” Anibas said. “This could be a great option for people who are concerned that they are mailing their payment too close to the deadline and want to make sure that they are not going delinquent.”

Payments for all municipalities can be made on the County’s website at

https://landnav-publicportal.buffalocounty.com/Login by using the guest sign in option and searching by either the property address or property/parcel number.