In a perfect world every homeowner would be able to walk into their local tax collection office and write a check every year to pay their taxes.

As we all know far too well, ours is not a perfect world. Every year, there are people for whom writing a check in a large lump sum is daunting. The situation is especially difficult for those on a fixed income who have paid off their homes and pay increasing amounts in taxes every year. Eventually, they have to sell their homes before they are ready to because they can’t afford to make a large tax payment.

Kudos to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, then, for a proposal in his budget that would allow property owners to make partial payments on their property tax bills during the tax collection period. Cuomo recognizes that computers have made the previous prohibition on partial tax payments obsolete. He also recognizes that it is expensive to pay taxes in many parts of New York state and that government should be looking out for taxpayers. It’s proving difficult to simply decrease tax bills; allowing taxpayers to spread the payment over a longer period is a worthy compromise.

Jim Caflisch, Chautauqua County real property director, is right when he says partial payments will create problems for local tax collectors. Governments will have to figure out how to account for the partial payments and how to make sure they have enough revenue coming in to pay the government’s bills. Those concerns are valid and worthy of discussion; but they should not deter state legislators from approving Cuomo’s proposal. A little inconvenience on government is a price well worth paying to help taxpayers stay in their homes.