While taxes have inexorably linked with this country’s march toward independence, residents in New Hyde Park still had to pony up before donning their red, white and blue this week.
Being the last day to submit village taxes was July 2, it was also one of the busiest days of the year for the staff of the .
While tax bills were sent out the last week of May and were able to be paid off since June 1 (meaning residents were able to pay their taxes for almost exactly a month), “the last day of tax collection is always hectic,” village clerk-treasurer Carthryn Hillman said.
There were long lines in the village hall Tuesday stretching out into the small corridor with procrastinators who had decided to wait until the last minute. No resident was forthcoming when asked for an interview.
In total, there are about 3,160 parcels in the Village of New Hyde Park that have to submit taxes. Including payments sent by mail and walk-ins to the office, the village clerk’s office had a total of 283 parcels receipted on July 2.
Since July 2, the office has received another 25 payments, via mail only. According to the office, payments can still be received without penalty as long as they are postmarked on or before July 2.
“I still anticipate receiving more payments with acceptable postmarks within the next week,” Hillman said.
As small as those numbers sound, that still means that almost 10 percent of the village waits until the last minute to pay their taxes, not including the amount of people whose payments have yet to be received, with or without fine.
The village does attempt to remind residents about the due date, either via the electronic board outside the village hall or the village website, yet still procrastinators abound.
When asked if people ever give reasons as to why they wait so long, Hillman said that “residents don’t usually explain why they wait till the last day.”
