Rutland Herald
By Lola Duffort
STAFF WRITER June 29,2016
STAFF WRITER June 29,2016
KILLINGTON — The town manager will take a look at how Killington collects taxes and goes after delinquent payments.
While reviewing Killington’s May financial report with the Select Board last week, Town Manager Deborah Schwartz noted the hole in the town’s budget aligned perfectly with unpaid taxes.
“For revenues, we are under budget by a little over $1 million, 97 percent of which is uncollected tax revenues,” she said.
Schwartz called the numbers “encouragement” for her plans to propose an updated tax collection policy to the Select Board soon. She added that she had begun to take a look at how other Vermont municipalities collect taxes.
“Other towns don’t wait two years for a tax sale, other towns don’t have 10-day grace periods — and we don’t have to be like other towns, I’m not a very good lemming,” Schwartz said.
Select Board Chairwoman Patty McGrath agreed the town’s quarterly payment system might be specifically worth reviewing, and noted Town Clerk Lucrecia Wonsor had said the town’s last payment — in May — was particularly troublesome since it came just as town offices prepared for summer activities.
The town only recently moved to a quarterly system. Before, property owners paid their taxes in two installments: August and November.
“It’s my understanding that we broke up the payments into four to try and decrease the delinquencies. How has that worked?” one resident asked.
McGrath answered that the clerk had reported more people were paying some taxes — while consistently forgetting one installment.
“What the challenge is, for many years, you paid in August, you paid in November. You kind of get that in. And then all of a sudden, (Wonsor) said, people were pretty good about February, but everybody forgot about May,” McGrath said.
Schwartz also noted the May installment came just days before the town was due to make two annual payments to the state.
“Right, we’re relying on everybody paying their taxes on time on May 25 so that five days later we can pay that same money we just collected to the state,” Selectman Chris Bianchi said.
Bianchi also noted that since voters had approved the upcoming year’s tax payment schedule, changes couldn’t be implemented for at least another fiscal year.
“So, it’s like this for awhile,” he said.
lola.duffort
While reviewing Killington’s May financial report with the Select Board last week, Town Manager Deborah Schwartz noted the hole in the town’s budget aligned perfectly with unpaid taxes.
“For revenues, we are under budget by a little over $1 million, 97 percent of which is uncollected tax revenues,” she said.
Schwartz called the numbers “encouragement” for her plans to propose an updated tax collection policy to the Select Board soon. She added that she had begun to take a look at how other Vermont municipalities collect taxes.
“Other towns don’t wait two years for a tax sale, other towns don’t have 10-day grace periods — and we don’t have to be like other towns, I’m not a very good lemming,” Schwartz said.
Select Board Chairwoman Patty McGrath agreed the town’s quarterly payment system might be specifically worth reviewing, and noted Town Clerk Lucrecia Wonsor had said the town’s last payment — in May — was particularly troublesome since it came just as town offices prepared for summer activities.
The town only recently moved to a quarterly system. Before, property owners paid their taxes in two installments: August and November.
“It’s my understanding that we broke up the payments into four to try and decrease the delinquencies. How has that worked?” one resident asked.
McGrath answered that the clerk had reported more people were paying some taxes — while consistently forgetting one installment.
“What the challenge is, for many years, you paid in August, you paid in November. You kind of get that in. And then all of a sudden, (Wonsor) said, people were pretty good about February, but everybody forgot about May,” McGrath said.
Schwartz also noted the May installment came just days before the town was due to make two annual payments to the state.
“Right, we’re relying on everybody paying their taxes on time on May 25 so that five days later we can pay that same money we just collected to the state,” Selectman Chris Bianchi said.
Bianchi also noted that since voters had approved the upcoming year’s tax payment schedule, changes couldn’t be implemented for at least another fiscal year.
“So, it’s like this for awhile,” he said.
lola.duffort
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