Town to go after delinquent motor vehicle taxes
GREENWICH — The town is looking for people to pay up on their motor vehicle taxes — while the data is starting to indicate there could be fewer cars in town than in years past. There definitely are fewer registered.
Normally, tax payments have to be in by Aug. 1, but the deadline was extended to Oct. 1 this year due to the economic challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic. Assessor Lauren Elliott told the Board of Estimate and Taxation on Monday night that the effort is underway to collect from those who missed even the later date.
Her office, in conjunction with the Tax Collector’s Office, have sent out delinquent motor vehicle tax notices, Elliott said.
“There were basically 5,241 accounts that are still delinquent and we are try
ing to make an extra effort of sending out these delinquent bills so people have a chance to get any adjustments or send any payments before we send it to the collection agency,” Elliott said.
This is the first time the town has sent notices — the idea of Tax Collector Heather Smeriglio. On Tuesday, Smeriglio said it was meant as a courtesy to residents.
Elliott said sometimes people do not realize they have to pay their motor vehicle taxes because they sold the car mid-year. She said in those cases taxes still have to be paid, but there can be an adjustment made to the bill to reflect when the car was sold.
“We need to make sure people do not ignore those delinquent notices,” BET member Laura Erickson said.
Smeriglio said that residents have to get adjustments made to their bills by Dec. 31 so “hopefully the notices will help.”
As they seek to collect, officials said the rolls show a year-to-year drop in registered cars in town.
Elliott said the 2019 Grand List shows the town to have includes 8,795 motor vehicles registered in town, which is down from the 11,134 that were on the 2018 list.
“Due to COVID we lost basically 2,300 motor vehicles that we will lose value from,” Elliott said.
The assessor added she had never seen that large of a change before, and was not yet sure if it was the result of the pandemic closing down the Department of Motor Vehicles for a time, making it difficult to register a car, or people not buying cars because of the pandemic.
“I’ve never seen that kind of a number drop,” BET Chair Mike Mason said.
Elliott said she would have the hit to taxable revenue priced out “in the next few weeks.”