Where are Teaneck’s tax bills? Post office investigation requested
TEANECK — The fourth-quarter property tax bills have gone missing, local officials report, but the township still wants payments made by the Nov. 1 deadline.
Village Manager Dean Kazinci posted a notice on the township’s Tax Department News webpage reporting that an unknown number of tax bills hand-delivered to the Teaneck post office on Sept. 22 have not yet been received by residents.
“I have been made aware that many township residents have yet to receive their fourth-quarter tax bill and the delay is very concerning,” Kazinci said. “I have personally been in contact with the Teaneck postmaster voicing my displeasure, and formally requested he initiate an internal investigation to locate our missing mail.”
Kazinci said the bills were traced to the South Hackensack sorting facility the same day, but it has yet to be determined what happened to them since then.
“I apologize for the inconvenience and we will continue to press the U.S. Postal Service for answers on our missing property tax bills,” Kazinci said.
Kazinci said the quarterly payments are still due on Nov. 1.
He advised residents who have not yet received their bill to visit the township’s webpage for its accounting firm, Edmund & Associates Inc. There they can find and print out a copy of their fourth-quarter tax bill. Residents can also get a copy at the township’s Tax Department during office hours.
Teaneck’s postmaster did not respond to a request for information.
It is the most recent in a series of difficulties associated with the township’s post office.
Beginning in early 2020, Teaneck police received reports of more than 250 stolen checks and mail fraud incidents. Victims include now-Mayor Michael Pagan, whose $100 check to a Paramus charity was somehow diverted, altered and cashed for $7,000 by another party in a process known as mail “washing.”
Pagan was referred by police to the Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service, but eventually also reached out to Rep. Josh Gottheimer for additional support. Township officials received letters confirming an investigation, and that unspecified arrests had been made.
Gottheimer and Pagan renewed their request for a more thorough investigation last December, at the start of the Christmas card season, as reports of mail theft continued.
“Because of an egregious lack of oversight and action at this post office, far too many residents have to worry that the checks in those Christmas cards might get stolen or altered,” Gottheimer said at the time.