ORDER-2020-83 : An Order to Provide Real Estate Tax Relief

Transcript (~8 min @ 37:27)

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▶ 37:27 Christopher Cinella: next order 2020-83 in order to provide real estate tax relief um does either of the makers

▶ 37:36 John N. Tramontozzi: wish to speak council chairman yes uh thank you mr chairman um similar to what uh councilor mcmaster said also is applicable to this particular order order 2020-83 when originally

▶ 37:53 John N. Tramontozzi: filed it was a little broader than the current revised order that we all have and as the mayor

▶ 38:06 John N. Tramontozzi: stated in his april 29th 2020 letter it was right that he first advised us on april 6 2020 this is also part of the order it's in there that uh the mayor intended to uh enact pursuant to his authority uh and authorized the maximum relief allowed uh for these type of orders and then he

▶ 38:26 John N. Tramontozzi: followed up uh april 29th um indicating that um that he immediately invoked his authority under sections 10 and 11 of chapter 53 of the acts of 2020 to delay the due date of property tax bills and also to waive the payment of interest and other penalties so as a result of the and i thank the mayor and the administration as a result of their cooperation we we simply just

▶ 38:54 John N. Tramontozzi: revised the order to reflect a reduction in the demand notice again let me make it clear this is not an order permitting residents to not pay the real estate tax bill and it's the fourth quarter real estate tax bill that's really at issue here uh in terms of the due date uh of

▶ 39:14 John N. Tramontozzi: being june 30th so then there's still the requirement that they have to pay their real estate tax bill as it is a requirement to pay the excise tax bill uh it's just that we are uh suggesting through this order the the uh the demand notice that the city would send to to homeowners advising them that they're late in paying that property tax bill would be reduced from $15 to $5. Again, property taxes are a legitimate revenue source for the city

▶ 39:50 John N. Tramontozzi: and the taxpayers are still required to pay the real estate tax bill. But we're giving a little bit of a relief under the circumstances, as Councilman McMaster eloquently stated in his statements regarding the excise tax bill, that under these circumstances, the citizens of this great community are in need of some assistance and help. So that's what that order is reflecting and I would respectfully ask this council to grant a vote of

▶ 40:35 John N. Tramontozzi: recommendation for it. Is that a motion? I'll make that motion and I'll certainly allow others to be heard on this order so I'll make a motion for passage of this order

▶ 40:46 Speaker 2: as well second one discussion counselor Eccles through the chair I was just

▶ 40:52 Jack Eccles: hoping that maybe the same the same figures they were available for the last four I'm just again I'll go uncomfortable with the fact that there isn't a member of the administration here tonight and that the the property tax revenues is obviously one of the biggest bases of our collections do we have an idea of what that $10 difference is going to how it's going to impact our receivables for the year do we know how many outstanding you know late property tax payments we have annually you know for 41,000 in the last quarter I imagine it's much more for this one I'm more just just curious through the chair yeah

▶ 41:31 John N. Tramontozzi: I don't believe in maybe council McMaster can correct me I don't believe that the administration had just addressed that frankly I think it's that I don't think this is as much of a concern as council echoes you think. I think most people understand the need to pay their property taxes and do so with the threat of potential liens on their property if they don't do so, if they fail to pay.

▶ 42:02 John N. Tramontozzi: it's a recognition that uh the city through the mayor is is okay with that because uh he is gone as far as suggesting that the city uh uh waives any payments of interest and other penalties uh on the late payment so that's even that would have added to uh that adds up to much substantially more than just um reducing the demand notice from fifteen dollars to five dollars penalties which the the the city has agreed to waive uh would i would respectfully suggest accounts for a higher amount than the simple demand notice i hope that helps together

▶ 42:42 Mark Garipay: yeah i just want to echo counselor eccles concern about not having the administration here the one thing i would say that different than excise taxes i would think a lot of a lot of property taxes are escrowed through the uh through their bank and their lender so it's not something that would be those are already going to be paid so i think to uh uh council of tramitosi's uh point that that number probably would be um would be a lot less um just because they're going to be escrowed through the uh through the current their current financing lender they wouldn't be paying it direct some people do of course but i think there's a pretty large percentage that does do that

▶ 43:26 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, what I would want the Council to consider is there are a significant number of people that have lived here for many years, that are retired, that have fully paid for their house, but they continue to pay their property taxes. A number of these people are on fixed incomes and given the COVID situation, they could be a little bit more at risk. So I think this is a fair consideration that's been provided for those kind of people. I think they might be the ones, and honestly, I'm speculating, but just understanding that the demographics in my ward and knowing that there's a lot of people that have lived there for a very long time that could be in that kind of situation uh i'd be i'm you know honestly concerned for them and i i think this is a a a small but uh good gesture and outreach for uh for the community thank you mr chairman now it's on discussion council advice jimmy early

▶ 44:36 Leila Migliorelli: thank you mr chairman um so just to confirm we don't have the same numbers available that we did last time and just the reason why i'm asking is it's it's not out of a desire to like or that i don't have compassion for people who can't pay the taxes but i just want to make sure that everyone's weighing two things against each other so we we don't have the information of lost revenue um if we were to cut this

▶ 45:00 Shawn M. MacMaster: yes that's not information that was submitted uh to to us uh in conjunction uh with the ones that

▶ 45:10 Christopher Cinella: we're fine anyone else on discussion and clerk please call the roll vice chair migliorelli

▶ 45:21 Speaker 1: council Tramontozzi yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor mcnaught yes councillor eccles yes councillor Garipay yes councillor stewart yes councillor thomas yes councillor maladin yes