Property owners in Deschutes County will soon be mailing their tax payments in a different way.

Starting this month, county property tax payments can be sent to a U.S. Bank lockbox in Portland, to expedite the payment process.

October property tax statements will be sent out on the 14th of this month, according to Dave Lilley, deputy tax collector for Deschutes County.

Payments sent to the post office box will be collected throughout the day and processed by automated machines using optical character reader technology, according to a press release.

Payments will be deposited into the county’s checking account the same day they are received.

The change was made to streamline the collection process, increase efficiency and save taxpayer dollars, the release said.

In the past, payments were processed by hand at the Des-chutes County Services Building by six temporary employees brought in for three weeks to a month each October. The new system will eliminate the need for these workers, saving money, according to Lilley.

Lilley said the automated readers are significantly faster than hand-processing, with a guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours for single payments and 48 hours for payments on multiple properties.

This will prevent a backlog of payment processing that took place in years past in October, when staffers received an influx of tax payments, Lilley said.

”The people did a great job, but with so much coming in, there was just no way to keep up,” he said.

Tax payments should be sent to P.O. Box 5277, Portland, OR 97208.

Taxpayers can also make payments at local branches of participating banks or at the Des-chutes County Services Center located at 1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, in Bend.