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St. Lawrence County legislators say permission from governor needed to extend tax deadline

Posted 3/31/20

Clarification: This story was upated at 2:58 p.m. to include the fact that the county would need to permission from the governor's office to extend the tax deadline. BY ANDY GARDNER North Country …

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St. Lawrence County legislators say permission from governor needed to extend tax deadline

Posted

Clarification: This story was upated at 2:58 p.m. to include the fact that the county would need to permission from the governor's office to extend the tax deadline.

BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

CANTON -- The St. Lawrence County legislature will not be able to grant extensions for the payment of county taxes, but the county attorney said they still have an option to help taxpayers who can’t afford their bill due to the COVID-19 crisis.

According to legislator Rita Curran, the legisature would need approval and permission from Gov. Andrew Cuomo in order change the date that property taxes as are due.

The discussion happened at the Monday, March 30 Finance Committee meeting, which was conducted online through Zoom.

County Attorney Stephen Button told the legislators that when the emergency ends, they will have the power to go back and grant waivers for any interest, penalties and fees.

“The only way I can assess for this right now is through a retroactive action … what we can do looking back,” he said. “[This board] has previously waived interest, penalties, fees. It’s still possible … not time sensitive and could be assessed at the conclusion of the emergency that’s going on.”

Several legislators spoke up and said they have been hearing from constituents who are out of work because of the executive order mandating all non-essential workers stay home.

Legislator Larry Denesha, R-Gouverneur, said he reached out to St. Lawrence County’s state representatives and initially heard nothing, which he called “disappointing.” He said he did eventually hear from a representative of Sen. Joe Griffo, R-Rome.

“I’m very disappointed the state has done nothing. And if we can do anything at the county level we should,” Denesha said. “There are people who are (paying their taxes) on installments. It’s going to be a tough time for them to make that installment payment. If they’ve got the money and they’re not working, they pay the tax and the money could go elsewhere.”

Legislator Kevin Acres, R-Lisbon, said he wants to see the county collect data on non-payments before coming to a conclusion.

“We can probably analyze the data, who did not make their payments and the impact it had,” he said. “It’s been essentially two weeks since people have been out of work.”

“A lot of people in our area who have contacted me whose business or job have been affected … they’re out of work. Will they get any sort of a break for this tax collection? There are people who live paycheck to paycheck,” said Legislator Rita Curran, R-Massena.

Before recommending taking action in the future, Button said they have two options to move back the deadline, which is currently Wednesday, April 1. The first would be for a county executive to write a letter to the governor to ask for permission to extend the deadline. The other would be if the state Department of Health granted them certain emergency powers, which they currently do not have. Among them would be authority to grant tax deadline extensions.