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CORTLANDT, N.Y. The Cortlandt Town Hall Tax Receiver's office will be open Saturday, from 9 a.m. until noon, to collect last minute taxes before the April 30 deadline.
The tax receiver's office is open on Saturday twice per year, the other time is in September for school taxes, but this might not be necessary for many residents. Receipt of online tax payments has grown tremendously, said Tax Receiver Mary Breining. She explained dozens of people had paid their taxes online just over the last few days.
People have taken onto this because they travel, one, and they dont have to worry about the stamp, Breining said. County and town taxes snail-mailed to the office must be post-marked by April 30 for them to be received without penalty.
She also said it allows people a few extra hours to pay, If they want to wait until the last minute, they can until midnight.
Over the last 11 years of her career, Breining said other changes, like the prevalence of tax certioraris, also known as assessment grievances, can result in tax refunds. This, she said, is a different dynamic then there was 10 years ago.
There are people, especially on fixed incomes, that feel theyre struggling, Breining said, on whether the economy has affected the dynamic of tax collection. Its not as bad as it was a couple years ago, when people were saying, Mary, I have to pay the bill or put oil in the tank.
Residents who miss the deadline to pay their town and county taxes face an additional 2 percent penalty in May, which climbs to 5 percent in June and July, 7 percent in August and September and 10 percent in October, November and December. Finally, 12 percent can be added to a tax bill by January, February, March and April.
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