Thomas MacMillan Photo
Under a new budget amendment from Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison, New Haveners wouldn’t have to pay all their annual car tax at once. They could split it into two payments.
The Board of Alders Finance Committee approved that proposal at a Wednesday night budget meeting. The full board will have a final vote on the idea on May 27, along with the rest of the city’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Morrison (pictured) said her new two-payment plan would help out people who can’t afford to pay their annual car taxes all at once.
“I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls,” she said. “People just don’t have their tax money at one time.”
The tax collector’s office doesn’t offer payment plans, she noted. “If your tax is $1,200 and you give $800, they’ll take it. But you’ll come out of the store and the car will be gone, too” — towed for unpaid taxes.
“This is an institutional payment plan,” she said. “I’m proposing that we allow people to pay in two installments.”
Property taxes can already be paid in two installments, Morrison said. “This is an amendment for the people. You can borrow $500. You can’t borrow $1,000.”
Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Michael Stratton said he likes the idea, but wanted to add some kind of incentive to encourage people to pay their car taxes all at once: “I don’t want to be obnoxious, but what about a $10 convenience fee for paying it in two installments?” The more payments there are, the more money the city might lose in unpaid taxes, he said.
Morrison said she appreciated the suggestion but that it wouldn’t be right to penalize people who didn’t have the money to pay their taxes all at once.
Morrison’s proposal passed unanimously.
Morrison, who is in her second term in office, fought in her first term to allow city people to use Lighthouse Point Park without paying fees.