LITTLE VALLEY — Thanks to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the telephone lines to the Cattaraugus County Treasurer’s Office and the Office of Real Property Tax Services rang off the hook Tuesday morning.
The governor late Friday announced he had signed an executive order authorizing municipal tax collectors to accept prepayment of 2018 property taxes. The governor’s response was to a new limit on deducting paid property taxes from income taxes included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law Friday that comes into effect Jan. 1. If 2018 taxes are paid before that date, then the old deductions would be in effect.
“The phones really lit up this morning,” said Cattaraugus County Treasurer Joseph G. Keller. With the weekend and the Christmas holiday, this was the first time taxpayers could news of the governor’s executive action.
The problem is that the county doesn’t collect taxes during the first three months of the year — local tax collectors in the 32 towns and two cities collect the taxes.
“I told people to contact their local collector to see if they would accept the payments,” Keller said. “This caught municipalities off guard and they are not set up to do it. They are part-time collectors who may work a few days a week for a couple of hours a day.”
A lot of people — those who don’t normally itemize — won’t be affected by the narrow window to prepay 2018 property taxes before the end of the year.
By 2 p.m. Tuesday, Keller estimated he had spoken to 10 or more taxpayers about the governor’s order. Staff members handled additional calls, he said.
Other calls about the tax prepayment order went directly to Daniel Martonis, director of the county Office of Real Property Tax Services, which prepares and prints tax bills. They were delivered to towns and cities for mail delivery on Jan. 2.
The tax bills are already online, Martonis told the Olean Times Herald on Tuesday. Taxpayers who want to see what their taxes (and those of the rest of county taxpayers) are can find the tax list on the county’s website at www.cattco.org under the Real Property Tax Services Office tab.
Local tax collectors can also tell a property taxpayer what their 2018 bill is if they wish to prepay.
Keller said the way he reads the governor’s executive order, it authorizes municipalities to accept the tax prepayments.
Martonis, on the other hand, said the Real Property Tax Law cited by the governor not only authorizes municipalities to accept the prepayment from taxpayers, but directs towns and cities to do so.
In addition, cities, villages and school districts which have later tax bill dates, could also approve a 2018 tax warrant and estimate tax bills for prepayment.
It is unlikely any will have time to prepare a tax warrant and estimate tax bills, Martonis observed.
Martonis said his office sent emails to local tax collectors to explain the governor’s order on prepaying taxes. “They understand and will comply,” he said. “They should be all set.”
Martonis said the governor’s order came Friday night after the office had closed. He first heard about it on Christmas Eve, when Keller called him to ask if he had heard about it.
“This is going to affect a small population in Cattaraugus County,” Martonis said. “You need to itemize first.”
Martonis said he’d heard from seven town supervisors Tuesday asking him what the executive order meant.
“If you don’t itemize and don’t pay more than $10,000 in property taxes, it doesn’t affect you,” Martonis said. The only way city, school and village taxes could be included is if the board were to issue a 2018 tax warrant in order to calculate a tax rate and tax bill.
It’s going to be difficult to prepay 2018 taxes in one town where the collector is vacationing in Florida, Martonis said. He did not identify the town.
It probably won’t happen outside town taxes given the narrow window to prepay the taxes, Friday.
“I’m just happy we got our (tax) bills out on time,” Martonis added.
In the city of Olean, City Clerk Al Utecht said Tuesday that Mayor Bill Aiello had decided the city would participate in the prepayment tax program even before Martonis’ interpretation that the executive order was just that, an order.
“We are going to accept prepaid county taxes,” Utecht said.
But the window is very narrow, since city offices are closed on Friday.
“We’re only open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week,” the city clerk said. The city is only set up to take county taxes at this time, he added.
The governor’s executive order did not come in time for the Common Council to adopt a 2018 tax warrant, which does not normally occur until May, so there will be no opportunity to prepay city taxes.
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
