Friday is the deadline for the first half of the Lawrence County real estate tax.

Homeowners can pay their taxes in person at the office of County Treasurer Stephen Burcham. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

They can also pay taxes up to the close of business day at the following banks: Ohio River Bank, Liberty Federal, US Bank, Wesbanco, City National and Ohio Valley Bank.

Taxes can also be paid by credit card, but homeowners must come to the courthouse in person to do that. Right now the treasurer’s office is not set up to tax payments via credit card over the phone,

Currently collections are slightly ahead of last year’s at $6,868,123, Burcham said.

The county’s entire collection for the first half of taxes for 2009 was $11.8 million. That was down from the $14 million collected in 2008.

“We anticipate being on that (2009) mark or slightly above that,” Burcham said.