With about two weeks left before the first half county property taxes are due, collections are running approximately $100,000 ahead of this time last year.

As of Tuesday, $6,476,848.35 has come into the Lawrence County Treasurer’s Office.

“At this point we anticipate collections should come in greater than they did last year,” County Treasurer Stephen Burcham said.

Payments made at area banks have been coming in steadily and the treasurer’s office has seen an increase in the number of people making payments online.

“The online is going tremendously well,” Burcham said. “The vast majority of people who are paying online are paying their entire year’s taxes. At the end of January, we collected over 10 times over the previous January. People are becoming more and more comfortable with making payments over the Internet.”

In 2012 the treasurer also reported that the first half tax collections brought in more than $15.5 million, which Burcham said at that time was the largest collection ever.

That was an approximately 8.5 percent increase in tax collections, although property evaluations conducted in 2010 for taxes to be paid in 2011 went up 9 percent.

Burcham cites the reason for the increase is his office providing property owners a variety of ways to pay their taxes including allowing monthly contract payments for taxpayers who are not delinquent.

“The number of people in monthly contracts who are making it a part of their monthly budget has tripled,” he said. “We have been very diligent about making sure people understand that obligation.”

Deadline for paying first-half taxes is March 8.