ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen have voted not to change the due date for property taxes but will waive late and interest fees if bills are paid before the end of the fiscal year on June 30. 

 

The Legislature gave municipalities the option to delay property tax due dates until June 1 and another option to waive late fees and penalties until June 29 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effects on the economy 

 

Local towns have been all over the map when it comes to adopting these options. Pittsfield and North Adams enacted both options while neighboring Cheshire extended the deadline but chose not to waive late fees and penalties.

 

Opinion was not unanimous among the board on Wednesday as Selectman Joseph Nowak felt the extra month would be most advantageous for taxpayers while still providing the town with at least some revenue to meet its fiscal responsibilities.

 

Town Administrator Jay Green and the rest of the board wanted to keep the due date May 4 while adopting the second option to waive fees and penalties. This essentially gives taxpayers close to an extra two months to pay their bills while avoiding any extra charges. However, if taxes are not paid before June 30, penalties and late fees will be assessed retroactive to the original due date of May 4. 

 

Green stressed that whatever the board chose to adopt, it would not preclude individuals from contacting Town Treasurer and Tax Collector Kelly Rice and entering into a mutually agreed upon payment schedule should they foresee trouble paying their taxes.

 

Rice, participating remotely, informed the board of a disturbing potential trend she sees developing — should the town extend the due date — for those whose tax payments are incorporated with their mortgage and held in escrow by the lender before being paid to the town.

 

"After some of the towns had already adopted the extension ... I had at least four banks call wondering if we were changing our [due date]. I honestly think they were going to wait to pay if we moved the date to June 1. I said, 'You already have the money, why are you worried about the deadline?' They really couldn’t answer me," she said.

 

Green warned that although he felt the option of keeping the due date on May 4 but waiving fees and penalties to be the lesser of two evils, this crisis will still be injurious to the towns fiscal outlook.

 

"If we vote to extend the date to June 1, our cash flow pattern now shifts. Our cash flow would have come in for the May 1 due date, now it will come in for June 1. Any bills that are due between May 1 and June 1 will deplete what we have in savings," he said. "If we are not able, as a town, to pay our bill schedule, because our bills still come in like any other person, no one is waiving our payment schedule, then our only option is to go out and borrow money. If you use someone else's money to pay your bills ... you pay interest."

 

Rice said she has already fielded several calls from taxpayers who are worried about their ability to meet their obligations and has worked with them on payment plans. 

 

Ultimately the board voted 4-1, with Nowak dissenting, to keep the due date May 4 but waive all penalties and late fees up to June 29. Information will be posted on the town's website for further explanation.

 

Green said one positive, and something he sees as perhaps giving the town momentum coming out of this crisis, is the continued operation of Inspectional Services. This is allowing the town to move forward with construction projects both public and private.

 

"I want to make it very clear, while other communities have ceased construction and ceased issuing building permits, the town of Adams has not," he said. "[We] will continue to entertain and accept building permits on a case-by-case basis. The town of Adams is open for business. We will do so reasonably, measured, and smartly."

 

After a nearly 2 1/2 meeting (see more of the agenda here), Green kept his fiscal 2021 budget update short, just telling the board he is ready to present to the budget subcommittee next week.