Groton town, city establish tax deferment programs for federal employees impacted by shutdown.

Groton — Both the Town Council and the City Council voted this week to establish tax payment deferment programs for federal employees who worked without pay or were furloughed during the partial government shutdown.

The state passed legislation on Jan. 22 that allows municipalities to vote to waive the interest penalties on property taxes owed by federal employees impacted by the shutdown, which began on Dec. 22, 2018, and ended Jan. 25. Many towns and cities in the area have approved waivers.

Groton Town Mayor Patrice Granatosky said in an earlier interview that the town started working on the program as soon as it found out about it and was ready to go as soon as the state passed the legislation. The town wanted to try to take some stress off families impacted by the shutdown and show support for people in the community.

The Groton Town Council Committee of the Whole on Jan. 22 and the Groton City Committee of the Whole on Jan. 28 recommended resolutions establishing the tax payment deferment program, and Groton Town Council and the Groton City Council approved the resolutions at their meetings this week.

“I think it sends a strong message that we supported this so quickly,” said Town Council member Aundre Bumgardner, who recognized the legislative delegation for supporting the bipartisan bill, as well as stakeholders and the governor.

The resolutions state that the city and town “shall not charge or collect interest on any real property taxes, personal property taxes, motor vehicle taxes, or water or sewer rates, charges or assessments or part thereof ... that is payable by an affected employee ... or which became due during the period when such individual was an affected employee.” The deferred payments will be “due and payable without penalty or interest not later than” 60 days after the shutdown. For eligibility, the affected employees will have to provide proof of their status to the tax collector.

Though the shutdown has ended, there are people who still are affected by it, Groton City Mayor Keith Hedrick said.

“It may take a while for some of those affected by the shutdown to bounce back financially,” Town Manager John Burt said. “The Town Council wanted to do what they could to help them.”