Earlier today, we told you about lingering problems with city's overloaded arts tax website (the $35 tax was supposed to be due yesterday) and the still-uncertain deadline for procrastinators who have yet to square up.

The city just sent out another update confirming that payment will now be accepted into next week, in person or online, but that the website won't be ready for another couple of days. Read it here:

Wednesday night, the City’s website experienced a problem related to the overwhelming response of Portlanders paying their Arts Tax. As a result, people were not able to pay their tax that afternoon and evening. Wednesday was the original deadline for payment.

The City has extended the Arts Tax deadline.

The online payment option will be brought back next week, as will an announcement of the new deadline. Currently, the Arts Tax cannot be paid over the Internet, but can be paid in person or by mailing in a check or money order. Forms can be found here.

The City has also extended the deadline to pay in person or by mail, simply to keep the deadlines together and to create simplicity for taxpayers.

The online payment option will remain offline for the next few days as city technical personnel implement measures to limit the number of concurrent filers on the site at any one time. This will ensure that usage does not exceed the system capacity and allow people to pay their Arts Tax online. Once implemented, when the site reaches capacity, the user will receive notification that the site is currently unavailable and to try back later. Technical staff will also be working on increasing the overall capacity of the payment site.

I've also asked, under admonishing from commenters, how this latest snafu affects collection and administrative costs that are supposed to be kept under 5 percent of collections. I'll update if and when I hear back.