A Precedent in Mount Pleasant for Refunds of Tax Penalties, Fines and Fees

For those who paid late tax penalties and fees due to non-receipt of their September Scarsdale school tax bills, there may be a remedy available.

It turns out that there is precedent for a law that would allow Scarsdale Village to refund the fees, fines and penalties for late tax payments.

A similar situation occurred in Mt. Pleasant in 2019 when the Mount Pleasant post office failed to deliver real property tax bills to the appropriate real property owners. As a result of this oversight, taxpayers could not submit their tax forms and incurred fees, fines and penalties.

Legislation, introduced in the NYS Senate by State Senator Pete Harckham, was passed that allowed "the Comptroller of the town of Mount Pleasant to refund any fees, fines, penalties and interest accrued on the real property taxes owed by an owner of real property in the town who failed to pay 2019 county and town taxes on or before April 30, 2019 due to a failure by the Mount Pleasant post office to deliver real property tax bills.”

The bill was sponsored in the Assembly by Thomas J. Abinati. The law number is Chapter 432 of the Laws of New York, 2019 and the senate bill number is S6257A and the assembly bill number is A8262-A.

If the Scarsdale Board of Trustees made a request, Paulin could introduce similar legislation in the NYS legislature to permit Scarsdale Village to refund fees, ffines, penalties and interest to those who never received their bills in September, 2023.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin learned of the precedent from Amanda Hiller, Acting Commissioner of the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance. Hiller added that the Minisink School District (in Orange County) is having a similar issue as some taxpayer’s payments were not delivered to the school district on time.