GREENWICH — The race for tax collector in Greenwich is coming all the way down to a choice on the best way to finest acquire unpaid property taxes — the identical problem that outlined the election two years in the past.
After Republican Heather Smeriglio was elected tax collector in 2019, she pulled the plug on a course of began by her predecessor Howard Richman, whom she had defeated within the election, that threatened to carry a “tax sale” to pressure delinquent accounts to pay up.
Richman’s actions introduced in tens of millions of unpaid property taxes. However Smeriglio mentioned there ought to be a extra compassionate method for the city to get the cash it’s owed.
Now that call is getting renewed scrutiny from Trevor Crow, the Democrat difficult Smeriglio within the Nov. 2 election.
“Howard was in a position to acquire $5.7 million in uncollected taxes to the city,” Crow mentioned. “That could be a lot. And for a city that wants infrastructure enchancment and funding in colleges, it’s a significant amount of cash.”
Crow mentioned she would do a greater job than Smeriglio.
“Howard was known as heartless, however I really feel not accumulating this could be hapless,” Crow mentioned. “I imagine my duty to the city and the BET is to be actually on prime of this. My platform is transparency and innovation.”
However Smeriglio mentioned she has introduced compassion and understanding to the job whereas sustaining a tax assortment price of 99.3 p.c. A former worker of the workplace, Smeriglio can be an authorized tax collector and is engaged on her recertification.
“I don’t imagine in tax gross sales and forcing individuals out of their properties,” she mentioned. “I imagine you could work with the taxpayer. My motto is ‘service above self,’ and I need to deal with different individuals the way in which I need to be handled.”
Smeriglio mentioned she works to gather the cash that’s owed to the city.
“My method of doing issues is to take a seat down and have a communication, and if we completely must, perhaps do one thing with a tax sale, however that will be absolutely the final resort for me,” she mentioned. “I feel it’s higher to not go down the onerous highway, and I hope it by no means involves that. It doesn’t resonate with who I’m.”
If reelected, Smerigio mentioned her precedence can be to “proceed to usher in the cash.” She mentioned she is engaged on accumulating from delinquent accounts, which she mentioned is all the way down to fewer than 10 which might be near the 15-year statute of limitations.
She mentioned she just lately introduced in an $800,000 delinquent account with the assistance of the city’s authorized division.
“We’re working proper now with the BET on a coverage for delinquent properties,” Smeriglio mentioned. However she declined to debate the small print of any new coverage. It’s nonetheless in draft type on the BET, however she mentioned she expects the small print to be launched by the tip of the yr.
Paying taxes
Crow, an authorized therapist with an workplace in Westport, mentioned she remembers her father sharing the basic phrase that there’s “solely two issues sure in life, dying and taxes.”
And whereas many complain about paying taxes, she mentioned taxes have to be collected “totally, pretty and equitably.”
Crow mentioned she would work with the Board of Estimate and Taxation to create reviews displaying who has unpaid taxes, how a lot is owed and the way lengthy it has been owed. She mentioned she would push for funds earlier than the 15-year statute of limitations is reached and the tax turns into uncollectable.
“We should be clear,” Crow mentioned. “The BET ought to know who’s late, what’s been taking place, who’s accumulating and why taxes haven’t been collected.
“I’ve a Harvard MBA. I spent 4 years on Wall Road. I labored at a buying and selling desk earlier than I grew to become a household therapist. I’ve the monetary converse in addition to the emotional converse. Paying taxes is an emotional factor. I don’t prefer it. Nobody likes it. However we want a fireplace division and a police division. We’d like secure roads,” she mentioned.
If a resident may couldn’t pay their taxes, Crow mentioned she would create a fee plan and maintain the BET knowledgeable. She mentioned she wouldn’t permit taxes to go uncollected for years.
Crow mentioned she would additionally push for enhancements to the tax collector’s part in town web site to make it simpler for residents to make funds by bank card.
“We have to replace our software program in that space,” Crow mentioned. “I might seek the advice of consultants in monetary tech about that. … I feel we ought to be seeking to the longer term, too, towards our subsequent technology of taxpayers that may need to pay by Venmo or PayPal or different apps. They gained’t need to stroll a test to City Corridor or put one within the mail. We have to begin getting ready for the longer term and up our sport technology-wise.”
Taxes throughout COVID
Smeriglio mentioned she is operating on her report and pointed to her success of working with the BET and the Consultant City Assembly at first of the COVID-19 pandemic when the city put in place a 90-day tax deferment to assist taxpayers.
The state had mandated that each one cities provide tax reduction at first of the pandemic, and Smeriglio mentioned it was her thought to determine the grace interval. The choice is “close to and pricey” to her, she mentioned, as a result of it helped taxpayers whereas ensuring the city acquired the cash it was owed.
Throughout COVID, “lots of people felt the affect financially,” Smeriglio mentioned. “By giving the taxpayers that further time to pay, I hope it was a assist to them. … I really feel that was one thing I used to be in a position to do throughout my first time period.”
Even on the peak of the pandemic final yr, when City Corridor’s entry was restricted, Smeriglio mentioned she was within the workplace every single day with restricted workers to reply telephones, course of mail and ensure the deposits acquired to the financial institution every single day.
The pandemic quickly closed the financial institution department utilized by the city for deposits, so Smeriglio mentioned she drove to Stamford to make the deposits.
“Regardless of the whole lot occurring, we didn’t miss a beat,” she mentioned. “There wasn’t a hiccup. The funds acquired to the financial institution for the city to learn from. My workforce and I all banded collectively, and we did our easiest. It was a workforce effort.”
