The Tax Collector's Office provides billing and collection of real estate, personal property, and motor vehicle taxes. Taxes are billed and collected semi-annually on real estate and annually on motor vehicles and personal property.

Well, it's now September and the delinquent statements for unpaid bills went out at the beginning of August. For those motor vehicle  and personal property bills that have remained unpaid, the next step in the collections process is the Demand Notice......

I Received a Demand Notice!
 
 It's not mean or nasty, it's just the required language

Although this sounds ominous, a Demand Notice is simply a delinquent statement that includes the required statutory language in order for the tax office to protect the town's authority to collect past-due taxes.

If payment of taxes is not received after the Demand Notice is sent, the next phase of a town's tax collection procedure is the use of a collection agency or a State Marshal. The agency or the Marshal is given the list of a town's delinquent taxpayers and those entities have the authority to collect the taxes. Both entities charge the taxpayer a fee for collection of the tax and they also have the statutory authority to attach bank accounts, bring small claims actions, seize property and garnish wages. If payment cannot be collected by these means, the town might then move forward by taking legal action against the taxpayer.

We utilize the services of the Rossi Law Office based in Rhode Island as our collection agency. So, if you receive a letter from that company, it is a legitimate notice and is not a scam.

These actions may sound drastic, but they are the legal means by which a town may have to proceed in order to ensure the collection of the taxes that have been levied.

And/Or a Notice of Lien

You may have also received a "Notice of Lien". In order to protect the Town's ability to collect business personal property/real estate taxes, any property owner with delinquent taxes of this type is sent a notice of intent to lien. This is also a statutory requirement, not only to protect the town, but also to be informative to the taxpayer. Should the tax bill remain unpaid, the Tax Office would then place a tax lien on the delinquent property. This ensures that the town will be first in line to receive payment of the delinquent tax should any legal action be brought upon the property. 

Unpaid business property taxes will result in a lien being placed upon the business and the business owner through the office of the Secretary of the State; while real estate liens are placed in the Town Clerk's office when there is unpaid real estate tax as of April 30.

DMV Releases: 
Your online payment will not result in an immediate release of the DMV registration hold! Online payments do not post to your account for approximately 3 business days. For an immediate release, you need to pay your delinquent bills in cash or cash equivalent (cashier's check or money order).

Release At DMV

Follow the 10-3-1-0 Rule!!

• 10-Day Hold on Personal Checks,
• 3-Day Hold On Online Payments,
• 1 Day Hold On Payments To The Rossi Law Office,
• 0-Day Hold On Cash Payments or Certified Checks.

If you need an immediate release at DMV, please let us know!

(Payments through our authorized collection agency, Rossi Law Office, can be made by credit card without additional credit card fees. There is a 24 hour hold on ALL payments made to the collection agency. Please take this into consideration if you need a DMV release.)

Dropbox

*A drop box has been placed at the back entrance of Town Hall.
*Tax payments or other mail for Town Hall departments may be placed in the box.
*Please remember that items placed in the drop box are not dated or time-stamped so if you have a
     time-sensitive event, please make sure that there is a postmark or other date-specific,
     legal marking on your item; otherwise, you should mail the item so that it has a legal postmark.
*Please, no cash payments in the drop box!