Lesson learned: South Orange Taxes

So, on June 23 I wrote a check for my third-quarter property taxes, put it in an envelope and mailed it to the tax assessor's office. The taxes are due August 1, but the penalties kick in if you are late, and I wanted to avoid that.

I just got a delinquent notice, so I called and explained that I'd sent a check on June 26. After confirming that the letter had not made it to the office, the person answering the phone said she "was not responsible for lost mail" and could not waive the penalty.

I offered to come by and show them the checkbook. I wrote three other checks that morning and mailed all four at the same time and in the same place. Only the tax check went missing. But, no. It would not be enough to let a citizen prove intent, or to give a resident the benefit of the doubt when the preponderance of evidence suggests she or he had done the right thing.

So, lesson learned: from now on, I'll arrange my schedule to go to the tax assessor's office, get a receipt and make sure I'm all square. And that idea of paying South Orange ahead of time: forget about it.

Didn't you notice the check has not been cashed when you check your account?

And you can pay online and save your self a lot of trouble.

The reporting period for the account closed shortly after the check was written. When I reconciled it last month, several checks around that time were outstanding. I just got the new statement yesterday.

You need not (and probably don't) agree with me, but South Orange is a small town whose staff could at least try to give its residents the benefit of the doubt. It's not that big a deal to pay the penalty, though I'd like to avoid it.

But the official answer was "It's up to you to get the check to us", "We don't care if the USPS lost it; that's not our problem" and "We don't want to see any evidence that you did the right thing". That's why I started the thread.

In Maplewood, you can drop the check in the dropbox at the door to the Municipal Building. The grace period is up until the 10th of the month that the payment is due. I drop my check into the box on the 10th of every payment month. I don't spend a stamp or the extra money to pay online. Does SO have a drop box at the, hmm, I don't even know what building.

I'm not sure if there is a drop box. I'll find out.

It doesn't cost extra to pay online.

It does in Maplewood. Surprised there is no convenience fee. I would do that then.

You can't use a credit card, it's a bank draft. You put in your routing number and stuff.

With the state of the mail these days it might be best to check your bank activity online every few days. A check mailed to So Orange Disposal was not cashed in over two weeks. We called to tell them it was mailed. It finally showed up a week after that. Especially if there are penalties for being late, checking up or hand delivering seems to be the way we have to go.

I understand your disappointment, I really do. I wish the town could have some leeway, but what a slippery slope that would be. It would cause accusations of all types if you got graced in and someone else didn't. It is a drag, though. Sorry it happened.

How about delivery by fedex? The cost could be lower than the value of your time to stop by Village Hall.

RobB said:
It doesn't cost extra to pay online.

JLJohn said:
It does in Maplewood. Surprised there is no convenience fee. I would do that then.

RobB said:
You can't use a credit card, it's a bank draft. You put in your routing number and stuff.

Several years ago, the tax collector told me that PNC Bank processes the online payments provided for on the Village website, and charges no fee since South Orange is a big customer. I think that South Orange was the first municipality in the state to provide for online payment of property taxes.

The online payment really works well and has no cost. The only catch is you cannot schedule a payment, but you can literally pay on the last day of the grace period (10th of the month) and still be "on-time".

brianoleary said:
...It would not be enough to let a citizen prove intent, or to give a resident the benefit of the doubt when the preponderance of evidence suggests she or he had done the right thing.

Seems quaint enough, but completely unviable. First, late payment penalties set by NJ statute. Second, Tax Collector has zero discretion to waive them, as it shold be. Third, if she had such discretion, how pray-tell could she be held accountable for distinguishing between a good "dog ate my homework" excuse from a less compelling one?

Finally, who would want to see who got a free pass and who was denied? Certainly would make for good MOL debate re whether friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and elected officials were awarded more frequent free passes based on a lower preponderance of evidence.

ETA: We already receive 10 days payment grace without penalty.

michaelgoldberg said:
The online payment really works well and has no cost. The only catch is you cannot schedule a payment, but you can literally pay on the last day of the grace period (10th of the month) and still be "on-time".

This. I have an Outlook reminder every quarter so I remember to log on and set up the payment.

Thanks for the feedback. I get the idea that any exceptions provide for a slippery slope. When I posted, I was responding as much to the attitude, more than evident over the phone, that "I don't care whether you did the right thing or not." The response wasn't, "I'm really sorry we have to do this, but it's impossible to know when to make exceptions and be fair". It was "Not my problem."

There's no doubt that the postal service is falling apart at the seams, at least locally. In the last month I've had to hand-deliver six pieces of mail to a house on Seton (one block over) that has the same number as my house on College Place. So, as the thread title says, "Lesson learned."

The Post Office has been a shyte-show for decades, as far as I can see. I remember one month when the post office lost both my rent check and a college application that was critically important, back in 1985. Makes it harder and harder to justify the ongoing price hikes in postage. What are we paying more and more for? Increasing incompetence???

Oh, and Brian, I sympathize. It sounds like someone was going the extra mile to be bitchy about it.

@brianoleary I am constantly walking mail to a house a few numbers down from mine, that has a 6 instead of a 2. Oy.

PeggyC said:
What are we paying more and more for?

Retiree healthcare for future employees who are currently in 5th grade.

Also, full-service post offices in communities with population: 6, and delivering to Nanihanutti Village, just outside Barrow, for the same price as Manhattan.

Actually, the recent decline of the Post Office is more due to attempts by Congress to drive it out of business. They made it prefund its retirement accounts to an unreasonable level. As a result, it has to cut back on FTEs and physical locations.

RobB said:

PeggyC said:
What are we paying more and more for?

Retiree healthcare for future employees who are currently in 5th grade.
Also, full-service post offices in communities with population: 6, and delivering to Nanihanutti Village, just outside Barrow, for the same price as Manhattan.

I thought that's what I said.

I remember back in the day, during a South Orange election, a significant portion of the challenger's campaign mail pieces got lost in the SO Post Office. Luckily they were found (a few months after the election).

I am a big fan of the post office--much cheaper than UPS for parcels--which is all I care about. Everything else I do is electronic.

I am also impressed that so many of you have apparently paid off your mortgages and not relying on escrow.

You can have a mortgage and not have escrow, rather pay taxes yourself. We were set up that way when we had a mortgage.

Do you have online access to your checking account? I track clearance of all my checks online and if anything takes longer than a week or two I get suspicious.

Sybil said:
You can have a mortgage and not have escrow, rather pay taxes yourself. We were set up that way when we had a mortgage.

Yes, we just switched to this setup. Our mortgage company was going to increase our payment so there was more "padding" in the escrow, which I was not excited about! So now I'm getting used to paying the taxes myself.

I'm actually very glad to know about the grace period, as I couldn't recall exactly what it was. I paid my taxes on the 4th this month and was concerned!

Sybil said:
You can have a mortgage and not have escrow, rather pay taxes yourself. We were set up that way when we had a mortgage.

See "apparently." I would venture to guess that most people who pay their taxes directly have paid off their mortgage but recognize that is not necessarily so. With interest rates so low, I am not sure what the advantage of the homeowner holding the money rather than the bank, but whatever.

Roland said:

With interest rates so low, I am not sure what the advantage of the homeowner holding the money rather than the bank, but whatever.

The banks "hold" more than is actually needed, so it's annoying.

Many banks tightened their escrow rules after the housing crisis. It's more difficult to pay your own taxes than it used to be. The standard rule used to be that you had to have at least 20% equity to avoid escrow. We did that for some time but once we refinanced (post housing crisis) our new bank said no.