MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Township Committee passed an ordinance at its Nov. 7 meeting that will allow residents to make partial property tax payments before the full amount is due. There are limitations on the payments, such as residents being required to pay at least $1,000 in each partial payment and residents not being allowed more than three payments per quarter.
The ordinance passed unanimously without discussion by a vote of 4-0; Committeeman Greg Lembrich was absent.
In June, South Orange voted to allow its tax collector, Aderonke Zaccheus, to also serve as the tax collector for Maplewood. In an email to the News-Record on Aug. 16, Maplewood business administrator Sonia Alves-Viveiros said that Zaccheus’ professional opinion was that partial payments should no longer be accepted and instead paid in full.
At the committee’s Sept. 4 meeting, Maplewood’s township attorney Roger Desiderio said that confusion had ensued when residents paid their taxes partially before the due date, but then paid the remainder of the their tax amount late.
“I think the crux of the problem is, if the full amount is not paid on the due date, Nov. 1, or within whatever the grace period is, which is a 10-day grace period, I believe, statutorily, the person’s going to be charged the full interest and penalty on the full amount, regardless of the partial payment they’ve made or not. So, if they owe $3,000 and they pay $2,000, and they owe $1,000, on the due date they’re going to pay interest in penalties on the $3,000,” he said.
With this new ordinance officially allowing partial payments, residents should be aware that they will still be charged full interest for the amount of their property taxes for that quarter if they have only paid partially and do not pay fully by the end of the grace period.
At the September meeting, Mayor Vic DeLuca said that accepting partial payments would create confusion and force the department to do more bookkeeping, increasing the cost of work. Deputy Mayor Frank McGehee said then that if the town did decide to return to accepting partial payments, the town should over-communicate for clarity how interest on late payments for partial payers will be handled.
Also at the Sept. 4 meeting, Committeeman Dean Dafis said that some residents benefit from being allowed to make partial payments on their property taxes, saying that it might be the only viable method for them.
“Am I wrong in thinking that the folks who are making partial payments, even within the quarter, are some of our seniors who are waiting on that check to come in and do it when they can?” he asked.
Alves-Viveiros told the News-Record in an Aug. 20 phone interview that arrangements could be made on a case-by-case basis for residents to make partial payments, and repeated that at the Sept. 4 meeting.
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