Race for town tax collector repeats focus on how to handle delinquent accounts

“My way of doing things is to sit down and have a communication, and if we absolutely have to, maybe do something with a tax sale.” Heather Smeriglio, Republican incumbent

“I believe my responsibility to the town and the BET is to be really on top of this. My platform is transparency and innovation.” Trevor Crow, Democratic challenger

GREENWICH — The race for tax collector in Greenwich is coming down to a decision on how to best collect unpaid property taxes — the same issue that defined the election two years ago.

After Republican Heather Smeriglio was elected tax collector in 2019, she pulled the plug on a process started by her predecessor Howard Richman, whom she had defeated in the election, that threatened to hold a “tax sale” to force delinquent accounts to pay up.

Richman’s actions brought in millions of unpaid property taxes. But Smeriglio said there should be a more compassionate way for the town to get the money it is owed.

Now that decision is getting renewed scrutiny from Trevor Crow, the Democrat challenging Smeriglio in the Nov. 2 election.

“Howard was able to collect $5.7 million in uncollected taxes to the town,” Crow said. “That is a lot.

And for a town that needs infrastructure improvement and investment in schools, it’s a meaningful amount of money.”

Crow said she would do a better job than Smeriglio.

“Howard was called heartless, but I feel not collecting this would be hapless,” Crow said. “I believe my responsibility to the town and the BET is to be really on top of this. My platform is transparency

and innovation.”

But Smeriglio said she has brought compassion and understanding to the job while maintaining a tax collection rate of 99.3 percent. A former employee of the office, Smeriglio is also a certified tax collector and is working on her recertification.

“I don’t believe in tax sales and forcing people out of their homes,” she said. “I believe that you can work with the taxpayer. My motto is ‘service above self,’ and I want to treat other people the way I want to be treated.”

Smeriglio said she works to collect the money that is owed to the town.

“My way of doing things is to sit down and have a communication, and if we absolutely have to, maybe do something with a tax sale, but that would be the absolute last resort for me,” she said. “I think it’s better to not go down the hard road, and I hope it never comes to that. It doesn’t resonate with who I am.”

If reelected, Smerigio said her priority would be to “continue to bring in the money.” She said she is working on collecting from delinquent accounts, which she said is down to fewer than 10 that are close to the 15-year statute of limitations.

She said she recently brought in an $800,000 delinquent account with the help of the town’s legal department.

“We are working right now with the BET on a policy for delinquent properties,” Smeriglio said. But she declined to discuss the details of any new policy. It is still in draft form at the BET, but she said she expects the details to be released by the end of the year.

Paying taxes

Crow, a certified therapist with an office in Westport, said she recalls her father sharing the classic phrase that there’s “only two things certain in life, death and taxes.”

And while many complain about paying taxes, she said taxes must be collected “fully, fairly and equitably.”

Crow said she would work with the Board of Estimate and Taxation to create reports showing who has unpaid taxes, how much is owed and how long it has been owed. She said she would push for payments before the 15-year statute of limitations is reached and the tax becomes uncollectable.

“We need to be transparent,” Crow said. “The BET should know who is late, what’s been happening, who’s collecting and why taxes haven’t been collected.

“I have a Harvard MBA. I spent four years on Wall Street. I worked at a trading desk before I became a family therapist. I have the financial speak as well as the emotional speak. Paying taxes is an emotional thing. I don’t like it. No one likes it. But we need a fire department and a police department. We need safe roads,” she said.

If a resident could could not pay their taxes, Crow said she would create a payment plan and keep the BET informed. She said she would not allow taxes to go uncollected for years.

Crow said she would also push for improvements to the tax collector’s section on the town website to make it easier for residents to make payments by credit card.

“We need to update our software in that area,” Crow said. “I would consult experts in financial tech about that . ... I think we should be looking to the future, too, toward our next generation of taxpayers that will want to pay through Venmo or PayPal or other apps. They won’t want to walk a check to Town Hall or put one in the mail. We need to start preparing for the future and up our game technology-wise.”

Taxes during COVID

Smeriglio said she is running on her record and pointed to her success of working with the BET and the Representative Town Meeting at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when the town put in place a 90-day tax deferment to help taxpayers.

The state had mandated that all towns offer tax relief at the start of the pandemic, and Smeriglio said it was her idea to establish the grace period. The decision is “near and dear” to her, she said, because it helped taxpayers while making sure the town got the money it was owed.

During COVID, “a lot of people felt the impact financially,” Smeriglio said. “By giving the taxpayers that extra time to pay, I hope it was a help to them . ... I feel that was something I was able to do during my first term.”

Even at the height of the pandemic last year, when Town Hall’s access was limited, Smeriglio said she was in the office every day with limited staff to answer phones, process mail and make sure the deposits got to the bank every day.

The pandemic temporarily closed the bank branch used by the town for deposits, so Smeriglio said she drove to Stamford to make the deposits.

“Despite everything going on, we didn’t miss a beat,” she said. “There wasn’t a hiccup. The funds got to the bank for the town to benefit from. My team and I all banded together, and we did our very best. It was a team effort.”