Webster school tax bills go out this week. Miss Sept. 20 and the installment plan is gone.

Webster homeowners who plan to pay their school taxes in three installments have until Sept. 20 to make the first one. Miss that date and the entire bill comes due.

Webster Central School District tax bills go out this week, and for most homeowners that bill is the largest single tax charge of the year. The first installment is due Sept. 15, and the whole bill can be paid with no interest through Oct. 1. Neither is the date that decides how expensive this gets. Sept. 20 is the cliff. The Town of Webster's legal notice for the 2026-2027 collection puts it in one sentence: "If the first installment is not paid by September 20th, the installment plan is no longer available." The entire school tax then comes due, with the Oct. 1 clock still running.

The school board took up the 2026-2027 tax warrant on Aug. 18, and the Receiver of Taxes has since received the warrant and the tax roll.

For what the charges on the bill are, and why your neighbor's total differs from yours, see the Ledger's July 10 explainer, How to read your Webster property tax bill. What follows is the calendar.

Two ways to pay, and what each one commits you to

Pay in full. Sept. 1 through Oct. 1, no interest. Oct. 2 through Oct. 31, add 2 percent, applied to the entire amount of the bill, not to some remaining balance.

Pay in three installments. The installments are due Sept. 15, Oct. 15 and Nov. 15, and only the first one is paid to Webster Town Hall. The plan costs extra. The legal notice says that "if you elect to use the installment option, there is a service charge on ALL three payments," and the payment instructions printed on the back of the bill say it must be paid with every installment. Neither document states the amount. It is printed on your bill.

A calendar problem. Sept. 20, 2026 is a Sunday. The legal notice says that when a due date falls on a weekend or holiday, payment will be accepted on the first business day following. But Sept. 20 is written as a cutoff, not as a due date, and no published source resolves whether the plan survives into Monday, Sept. 21. Treat Friday, Sept. 18 as the last safe day to pay in person, or mail it postmarked no later than Saturday, Sept. 19. Do not plan around Monday.

The school installment plan carries no stated minimum bill amount. Do not assume a threshold applies here.

Installments two and three do not go to Webster Town Hall

This is the most common way a taxpayer on the installment plan ends up delinquent without meaning to. Only the first installment goes to the Town of Webster. The second and third go to the Monroe County Treasurer, PO Box 14420, Rochester, NY 14614, or in person at 39 W. Main St., Room B-2. The county's number for tax payments is 585-753-1200.

The third installment is due Nov. 15, another Sunday, and here the published rules appear to disagree. The instructions printed on the bill say Nov. 16 through Nov. 18 adds 1 percent to the third installment, which is hard to square with the weekend-rollover rule in the town's notice. No published source reconciles them, so treat Friday, Nov. 13 as the safe date.

The whole calendar, and what being late costs

• Sept. 1 through Oct. 1: full payment, no interest, to the Webster Receiver.
• Sept. 15: first installment due, to the Webster Receiver. The payment instructions printed on the back of the county bill allow it from Sept. 16 through Sept. 20 with 1 percent added.
• Sept. 20: the installment plan ends. A first installment still unpaid after this date voids the plan for the year and the full bill comes due. Sept. 20 is a Sunday, and no published source says the cutoff rolls to Monday.
• Oct. 2 through Oct. 31: full payment plus 2 percent of the entire bill, to the Webster Receiver.
• Oct. 15: second installment due, to the Monroe County Treasurer, not Webster Town Hall. The printed payment instructions allow it from Oct. 16 through Oct. 31 with 1 percent added.
• Oct. 31: the last day the Webster Receiver accepts anything, after which the school tax rolls return to the Monroe County and Wayne County tax offices. Oct. 31 is a Saturday this year and Town Hall is closed, so the last day to pay in person is Friday, Oct. 30. The drop box and the postmark still work on the 31st.
• Nov. 1 through Nov. 18: the Monroe County Treasurer still accepts payment. Full payment carries 5 percent. A second installment still outstanding carries 2 percent.
• Nov. 15: third installment due, to the Monroe County Treasurer. It falls on a Sunday, and the published rules conflict on what that means. See the caution above.
• Nov. 18: the end. The payment instructions printed on the bill say it in capital letters: "NO PAYMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER NOVEMBER 18."

Everything from Nov. 1 forward comes from the payment instructions printed on the back of the county bill and from Perinton's published page, not from Webster's legal notice. The town's notice ends at Oct. 31 and does not describe the November county window at all.

After Nov. 18, the school bill becomes a January problem

Monroe County's treasury describes the mechanism plainly: if school taxes are not fully paid, the outstanding balance plus penalty and interest is re-levied as a county tax on the next combined town and county tax bill, the one that arrives in January 2027. The county does not publish the percentage. The Town of Perinton, collecting under the same county schedule, puts the add-on at 7 percent. Whether a Webster relevy carries that same rate is not stated in any county document.

The debt becomes a county tax line inside a bill with its own escalating interest schedule, starting in February at 1.5 percent per month, and a delinquency of record against the parcel.

Where and how to hand over the money

In person. Town Clerk's Office, Webster Town Hall, 1000 Ridge Road, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. No credit or debit cards.

By mail. Payable to Danene M. Marr, Receiver of Taxes, 1000 Ridge Road, Webster, NY 14580. The postmark governs: "any payment postmarked on or before the due date will be considered on time." A private postage-meter mark does not qualify.

Drop box. Front vestibule of Town Hall, open 24 hours, checks and money orders only, emptied each morning.

Online. Through www.monroecounty.gov. A credit card adds a 2.75 percent service charge, per the 2026-2027 legal notice. The county does not publish its e-check fee, and a fee table posted by the Town of Penfield lists it at $10, so read the fee off the payment screen before confirming.

Questions about a bill or a payment go to the Webster Receiver of Taxes at 585-872-7064, the number the school district and the town's School Taxes page publish. The town's Receiver of Taxes page lists a second line, 585-872-7060. Start with 7064.

If your bank pays the bill for you

If a mortgage lender escrows your taxes, the bill goes to the lender, not to you. Verify rather than assume: Monroe County's real property portal shows paid and unpaid status by parcel. Check it in the last week of September, early enough to still pay in full by Oct. 1 with no interest if it has not posted. That timing is the Ledger's recommendation, not an official instruction.

STAR, and why your bill may look like the discount vanished

There are two STAR benefits. The STAR credit arrives as a check or direct deposit from New York State and does not reduce your bill; anyone who bought in Webster since 2015 has this version. The STAR exemption does reduce the bill. So a bill with no STAR line is not evidence of a mistake, and a credit that has not arrived is not a reason to pay late.

If the bill looks wrong

A bill that looks wrong is not a grievance matter now. Webster's grievance window runs in May and the final roll closed July 1, so pay the bill and take the assessment up next spring with the Ledger's guide, What is the Board of Assessment Review, and why it matters.

Not every Webster address is on this schedule

Walworth and Ontario residents in the district, its Wayne County portions, have no installment option and pay in full only. Penfield residents pay the Penfield Receiver of Taxes, 585-340-8625, and some Town of Webster parcels sit in the Wayne Central School District, which collects at Ontario Town Hall. Check your own bill for the collector and the dates.

The amount on the bill is set. The only variable any homeowner controls is when it gets paid, and to whom. Sept. 20 is where that choice narrows.

AI tools were used in drafting and research.