This was a recent headline in GoLocalWorcester. Lets take a closer look:
- What does it take to be delinquent? A tax bill is delinquent if you owe monies from the prior fiscal year; for example, the prior fiscal year for the City of Worcester (FY2015) runs from July 1st, 2014 through June 30th of 2015. if you have not paid your quarterly bill that was issued for the 2nd quarter of this year (April-May-June), you are delinquent.
- Does this $2,000,000 represent a large portion of the real estate taxes collected? Considering the total real estate tax collections are in excess of $250,000,000, this is a very small percentage.
- Do these unpaid tax bills accumulate at interest? Yes at a rate of 12% interest.
- Does the City of Worcester has collateral for these delinquent bills? Yes they do, the property itself. If these taxes are not paid, the City of Worcester can foreclose in Land Court on the underlying property and they go in front of any mortgages on the property
In summary, it does not take much to be “delinquent”. Even then it represents a very small percentage of the overall collections and, most importantly, a large proportion of these monies will be paid with the City of Worcester earning 12% interest. Lastly, in the event any of these balances remain unpaid, the City of Worcester has the ability to foreclose through Land Court to collect their monies. Bottom line if you are a tax-payer in the City of Worcester, you should not be concerned about these “delinquent” tax bills increasing your tax bill.
On the other hand you should be very concerned about properties that fall off the tax rolls; for example, Seven Hills Foundation recently bought a property on Goddard Memorial Drive (150-152). Real Estate tax bills on these two parcels were in excess of $45,000 per year and now the tax collections are zero each and every year. If you are a tax-payer int he City of Worcester (Commercial or Residential), you should be very concerned about this since this will increase your tax bill.
