CT - Delinquency notices steam Enfield residents

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By:Christopher Connelly, Journal Inquirer April 17, 2001 ENFIELD -- Police went twice on Monday to the tax office at Town Hall to control angry residents who loudly protested their receipt on Good Friday of notices that they were delinquent in paying property taxes on their motor vehicles -- bills the owners appear not to have received in January. Town officials concede the property owners should be angry, but said they cannot lift the interest on the delinquencies because state statutes strictly forbid that.

Town Manager Scott A. Shanley told the Town Council at its meeting Monday night that 500 to 700 supplemental motor vehicle tax bills out of the 7,500 mailed did not reach residents in January.

The town sends tax bills to a printer, which then sends them on to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery. Town officials confirmed the bills were taken to the post office; "What happened from there we don't know," Shanley said.

Owners angered by the bills started showing up at Town Hall almost from the moment it opened Monday. The residents demanded answers from tax officials; the problem, Shanley said, was that town staffers were unaware of the situation until residents approached them.

Finance Director Gregory Simmons said police were called as a method of crowd control, and especially because one man was "a little loud and wouldn't quiet down."

Deputy Police Chief Raymond Bouchard said police were called first at 9:43 a.m., and then at 12:50 p.m. An officer stayed for a short time after the calls to ensure there were no problems, he said. No arrests were made.

Simmons said most of the tax bills are not large; the problem is that delinquent interest accrues, he said. Some of the angry owners said they would have paid the bill had it come in January, he added.

Shanley said he is working on the issue with Town Attorney Christopher Bromson's office to see if some remedy might be devised. He added that the town would send letters to residents it believes did not receive original bills to inform them of the situation.

"I have a feeling it's one complete flat of mail that was somehow misdirected," Simmons said earlier Monday.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1687378&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161556&rfi=6

-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), April 19, 2001


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