CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated the assembly had passed the ordinance. Reports of a late payment grace period were premature. At its special meeting, the assembly unanimously voted to introduce the ordinance providing relief from fees and interest on late property tax payments until the end of the year. The vote on the ordinance will take place November 14th, and although the assembly seems to have every intention of passing it, technically the ordinance in not in effect. This means that property tax bills are still due November 1st. A late fee will be applied to payments received after November 1st, but the assembly may decide to waive those fees at its November 14th meeting.
Haines taxpayers may have a couple more months to pay their property tax bills. The borough assembly voted to introduce an ordinance to extend the deadline in consideration of the extended property assessment process that took place this year.
The Haines Borough Assembly held a special meeting on Monday night. Assembly members voted to introduce an ordinance that would extend the property tax payment deadline by two months. Residents would have until the 31st of December to pay their taxes – no penalties or interest would be charged until that date.
Mayor Tom Morphet says the assembly wants to provide some relief to taxpayers.
Morphet: “The assembly wanted to give some relief to people who feel under the gun. It’s been a year of some inflation and high prices for consumer items and utilities.”
It has also been the year for a long and contentious property assessment process. The new assembly is taking a conciliatory approach to the residents who appealed the new assessment.
Morphet: “There was a big increase for many people in terms of their assessments, which raised their taxes, and we had a long tax appeal season, which kind of pushed people back, and some people didn’t really know what their tax bills were going to be here until the past few weeks, because they were still under appeal.”
The assembly has committed to listening to the complaints of residents who sometimes felt bullied by a process that lacked transparency. An assembly workshop will be held on Thursday November 2nd at 5.30 pm.
The workshop will be an opportunity for taxpayers to learn more about the assessment process. Assembly members will look at what went well with the assessment this year, what didn’t work well, and discuss how to improve the process.
The workshop will take place in assembly chambers, and on Zoom.
