The Town of Webb board has agreed to drop a two dollar fee the local tax collector had previously charged to property owners who required the mailing of a second tax collection notice.
According to tax collector Kelly Hunkins, who was elected to her first term last November, she has already had numerous complaints from property owners who were confused by the form and angered when their tax payments were returned due to failure to include the $2 fee.
Supervisor Robert Moore said the fee, which had been implemented to offset the costs of additional mailings, has been unpopular with every Webb tax collector since its inception by resolution in the mid-1980s.
The theory behind the fee was sound, but it never functioned properly in actual practice, he said.
Kelly Hunkins said the confusion seems to stem from the fact that the fee was located on the form in a spot that was easily unnoticed.
She asked Herkimer County if they could move the fee payment line to a more conspicuous spot on the form, but the county said they are not able.
Then, when the tax collector receives an incomplete tax payment—one that is effectively two dollars shy—she is required to return the entire amount and request that the property owner resubmit their payment.
Hunkins noted that the fee is not mandatory and that German Flatts is the only other township in the county that utilizes it.
On a vote of 5 to 0, the board resolved to rescind the fee.
“Thank you,” the tax collector said.
