Chisago County is on the brink of financial disaster. While pages and pages of home foreclosures and delinquent property tax records have been published in the local newspapers, Chisago County continues to discuss and evaluate emergency cost saving measures. Although staff layoffs and down-sizing county departments and public services have been considered, the urgency to implement creative financial solutions becomes more critical with each passing day.
A Property Tax Amnesty Program is one financial strategy which would help improve immediate cash flow into the county coffers. It would also provide taxpayers with a positive incentive to bring current their delinquent property taxes. At a time when many taxpayers are anticipating and receiving state and federal income tax refunds, implementing a Property Tax Amnesty Program could help resolve Chisago County’s urgent financial shortfalls.
More specifically, Chisago County commissioners should act quickly to adopt and implement a resolution whereby any Chisago County taxpayer who is currently delinquent on their property taxes could make a lump sum payment to the county for all past due taxes. The Property Tax Amnesty Program would allow the county to uniformly waive all late fees, interest and penalties in lieu of a lump sum payment which brings the net property taxes current. Once implemented, the Property Tax Amnesty Program could run for a fixed period of time, such as 6 months, 9 months or one year. At or near the end of the amnesty time period, commissioners could evaluate the program success to determine if the amnesty time period should be extended.
Implementing a Property Tax Amnesty Program today will help preserve the future of Chisago County.
No comments:
Post a Comment