Huntington – Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci signed onto a joint letter
sent May 19 by the Suffolk County Supervisors Association requesting
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone waive property tax payment late
fees and interest for residents who can prove financial hardship due to
the COVID-19 pandemic in light of Nassau County
taking the same action.
Supervisor
Chad A. Lupinacci stated: “This is the third official request we have
made to the county over the past two months and we are hopeful that in
light of Nassau County’s bipartisan decision last night to waive late
fees for their affected residents, Suffolk’s leaders will recognize our
people share the same hardships and do the same.”
Many
residents have inquired with the Town about a possible extension to the
property tax payment deadline. The Town of Huntington cannot take this
matter
into its own hands without intervention by New York State and Suffolk
County.
On
March 26, 2020, Supervisor Lupinacci requested, along with the Suffolk
County Supervisors Association, an extension of the tax payment deadline
from
Governor Andrew Cuomo and County Executive Steve Bellone.
On
April 10, 2020, Supervisor Lupinacci sent a second letter to County
Executive Steve Bellone with his Town of Huntington colleagues following
up on the
initial request.
As
of May 19, the only response received by the Town of Huntington to its
request to extend the tax payment deadline was a directive from Suffolk
County
to refer residents with questions regarding the deadline to the County’s
311 hotline.
The Suffolk County Supervisors Association letter dated May 18 reads:
“County Executive Bellone,
“As
we quickly approach the second-half property tax payment deadline of
May 31, 2020, we once again ask you to waive late payment fees and
interest for
residents who pay their taxes before August 1, 2020 and can prove
financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak (unemployment,
loss of revenue, death in the family, hospitalization). It is the
government’s responsibility to help those in our communities
who need it the most in times of crisis.
“Our
respective offices, Tax Receivers’ offices and social media pages have
been inundated with messages from residents who are experiencing some of
the
toughest financial times of their lives asking us for help. Given the
fact that the federal, state and even our neighboring county’s
governments have found solutions to this issue, our residents’
frustrations are valid.
“We
supported your petition to the federal government to change its
requirements to apply for the Municipal Liquidity Facility in our letter
to Secretary
Steve Mnuchin on April 22, 2020, which was successful. While we were led
to believe that the MLF was the key to providing our residents some
relief on tax payments, nearly a month later (and about two weeks until
the deadline) we still have no actual update
or information to give them.
“We
want you to be aware that we stand ready to assist you any way we can.
We are more than willing to turn over our books on June 1, 2020 so
Comptroller
John Kennedy can assess how many payments are actually still owed. From
there, we are all willing to continue to collect tax payments on a local
level between June 2, 2020 and August 1, 2020 due to our already
established payment methods that allow social distance,
in an effort to keep things simple for our residents and avoid County
staff being overwhelmed with in-person payments.
“We look forward to working with you and Comptroller Kennedy to find a much-needed solution for our taxpayers.”
Full Letter: http://www.huntingtonny.gov/filestorage/13755/112252/Letter_-_Property_Tax_Payments_Update_FINAL_May_19.pdf
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