Business Administrator Camille Tooker
By Mariyah Wojcik
SOUTH AMBOY- The City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night, 12/4/13 to forgive unpaid tax bills under $10 after residents complained that tacking on additional fines to small amounts of monies hurts residents.
The resolution allows the cancellation of unpaid tax bills if the amount is under $10.
“Think about the fact that when you open the letter up, it’s a 34-dollar bill with a 65-dollar fine, under the town’s letterhead,” said Ken Feeley, a resident, “You might want to look at something like this and rethink it.”
The resolution regarding unpaid tax bills caused a controversy during the council meeting. According to Feeley, the 10 dollar maximum cancellation is unrealistic in today’s uncertain economic climate.
Feeley told the story of a close friend who is suffering from cancer and has had difficulty with the town’s accelerated tax sale policy.
Feeley said that his friend was a mere 11 days late in making a payment when he was served with a disproportionate fine and told that more fines would be assessed unless he paid his bill quickly.
The accelerated tax sale policy in South Amboy, which follows New Jersey law, allows a member of the public to pay another person’s debt, and in exchange, a lien is placed upon the delinquent person. Until the owner of the property pays back the debt, the person may not sell the house, and the house may be subject to foreclosure if the debt is not paid back within the period of a year.
“We’ve always had accelerated tax sales,” said business administrator Camille Tooker. “Now with the dismissal of anything below 10 dollars — I’m not the tax collector — that’s just the way we do it for everyone.”
Councilwoman Zusette Dato echoed the opinion.
“The notices are computer generated whenever someone has not paid their bill, no matter the time period,” Dato said, “You can’t have one person get a notice and another not. They don’t know his personal situation.”
The alleged hasty mailing of notices in the city calls into question the 10-dollar maximum cancellation policy enacted, and whether this amount should be increased.
“I was hoping you would say its because the town is strapped,” Feeley said to the council. “But apparently that’s not the case.”
Now that the question of the maximum has been raised as a potential problem for many residents with financial troubles, Tooker agreed that an inquiry must be made.
“Maybe something the council might want to look at is raising that amount,” Tooker said.
In other action at the council meeting, the council adopted two ordinances, one amending the city code on property maintenance and the other allowing for construction of a front porch over the Rosewell Street right-of-way.
A second reading was granted for the construction of a block retaining wall between Thompson Street and Feltus Street, as well as an ordinance granting stairway maintenance to the system the allows residents to cross over the Augusta Street right-of-way.
