Deadline for town property tax bills April 1
GREENWICH — The 90-day grace period for residents to send in their January property tax payments ends on April 1. And residents who do not pay in time will owe a lot more because of the interest.
Any resident who does not pay on time must pay the interest on their tax payment for January, February, March and April, which would come to 6 percent in interest on top of the existing bill. Tax Collector Heather Smeriglio is putting the word out to remind residents of the upcoming deadline.
“My hope is to get everyone on board and have no one be late,” Smeriglio said Wednesday. “There’s always going to be people who have to be late. But ... I don’t want to have to see them pay the extra 6 percent interest. That’s a lot of money to pay.”
Interest penalties on late tax payments are 1.5 percent per month.
The grace period came as a result of an executive order put in place by Gov. Ned Lamont to give relief to Connecticut taxpayers during the pandemic. Under that order, Connecticut municipalities had to offer residents and businesses either a deferment on paying local property taxes or lower interest rates on late payments.
Smeriglio chose to offer the grace period last summer and this winter. So bills there were due by the end of January now must be paid by April 1.
The grace period was a success last summer for tax bills, and the state order was continued for winter payments.
Most town residents pay their local tax bills in full in the summer, but some split it into two payments, with one due in July and one due in January.
Smeriglio said she sent out 22,000 bills for property taxes and about 8,700 bills for motor vehicles in December. This is far
below the 80,000 bills that go out in the summer for the July payment, she said.
Of those bills, more than 95 percent have been paid, Smeriglio said. But for the rest, she wanted to remind residents about the larger interest payments.
“We’re doing really well considering what’s going on in the
world,” she said. “Usually you see bigger numbers come in the final week, so I’m thinking next week will have the bulk of the money coming in.”
If paid by mail, the bill must be postmarked by April 1, or they will be subject to the interest penalties.
“Do not wait until April 2 to do
this,” Smeriglio said. “And if you’re cutting it really close and you’re mailing your payment you should always go into the Post Office and have the clerk hand stamp it with the date.”
Bills can be mailed to the Tax Collector’s Department, taken in person to Town Hall or paid online under the Tax Collector’s
section of the town website at www.greenwichct.gov. Town Hall is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. After 1 p.m., taxpayers can call the tax office at 203-622-7891 and someone will come to the door to get the tax payment.