If you don't ask, Schenectady won't tell about your tax bill CHRIS CHURCHILL, The Advocate Published 12:21 a.m., Sunday, January 22, 2012
SCHENECTADY — Schenectady needs new homeowners, and Dan Goodspeed loves Schenectady.
Sounds like a match made in real estate heaven, right?
Not so far.
Just months after Goodspeed bought a 1,200-square-foot home in a middle-class neighborhood near the high school, the city has managed to aggravate the 35-year-old by socking him with unfair fees.
Welcome to Schenectady!
Here's the story: Goodspeed closed on his McClellan Street house June 1. The first of his quarterly tax payments was due shortly after, on July 15, but he didn't receive a bill telling him that. Nor did he get a notice for the payment due in October.
It's pretty easy not to pay bills you never receive. Most people, I think, make a practice of it.
Goodspeed didn't hear a peep from the city until November, when he received notice that he owed roughly $200 in late fees on past-due taxes.
It's fair to say that Goodspeed, who prides himself on a stellar credit history, was flabbergasted. He went about investigating what, exactly, had gone wrong.
Here's what the city told him: No bill was sent, and it's entirely a new homeowner's responsibility to know when taxes are due.
Welcome to Schenectady!
Every homeowner, of course, is aware that property taxes must be paid, and many buyers do so by having taxes placed in escrow. Goodspeed chose not to do so, because he wanted such an important responsibility in his own hands.
He has reluctantly paid his late fees, but has otherwise pushed city officials — unsuccessfully — to refund the money. And after hearing from other Schenectady homeowners who experienced the same problem during their first year in town, he's asking the city to be more forthright with future buyers.
"Turns out, the method of not sending tax bills to get more money out of homeowners through late fees is common practice in Schenectady," Goodspeed wrote in an email to Mayor Gary McCarthy and members of the City Council. "Instead of 'welcome to the neighborhood,' people who have more than enough on their plate get a slap in the face."
McCarthy, in a phone conversation, noted that the city sends its tax bills just once a year, in December. Those bills outline when future payments are due.
Goodspeed, the mayor said, should have received the tax bill when he closed on the house. If he didn't, then the blame probably lies with his attorney.
"He sounds like a great guy, and we want him in the city," McCarthy said. "But I can't on the surface of it see where the city has done anything wrong."
It's worth noting that Schenectady homeowners face some of the region's highest property tax rates; Goodspeed pays $6,000 annually for his modest house. For that kind of money, new homeowners should be welcomed to the city by a marching band and cheerleaders.
At the minimum, how about the city sending an emailed greeting that serves as a guide to Schenectady living and lets homeowners know when taxes are due? If that's too pie in the sky, then why not send new homeowners a simple late notice when taxes are overdue — without the fees.
It seems to me that if the city isn't going to send new homeowners a tax bill, then it has no right to hit them with immediate fees.
Politicians running for office love to say government should run like a business. In this case, the cliche has merit: How many businesses, outside of a cable company or two, would treat a new customer so cavalierly?
Businesses also know that positive word-of-mouth is key to the success of the enterprise, and that negative publicity has grim consequences. But Schenectady, in just a few months, has turned Goodspeed from a booster to a disgruntled customer.
That undermines McCarthy's worthy effort to combat blight and middle-class flight by making the city more welcoming to new homeowners....................>>>>..................>>>>.................Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/loca.....62.php#ixzz1kBtuPZTu
Good idea Senders, maybe all those who experienced the cities tax collection scam should sue and if nothing else the city may have to change their billing practices. Can you see a bank or credit card company getting away with those same practices?
Exhibit #5377 proving Schenectady is a shithole not worth stepping foot in. That would be a predatory business practice if a bank tried to pull that.
PLUS, that $200 late fee would have been 'waived' if a bank had been escrowing the taxes. For some reason, the City bends over for the banks if an error is made, but a City resident...no way.
More bad publicity for a City practically begging for the middle class.
They have no clue what they're doing, might as well stick to the welfare/DSS hopefuls. Even that Broadway Taj Mahal is falling apart......
Nothing good ever happens in Schenectady... If something good ever were to happen... let us know, we'll destroy it as soon as possible!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Yes, please, let me know when something good happens. Everybody just received their property tax bill. They could use a good laugh.
See? Nothing good ever happens in Schdy. Ever! Not EVER!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
They ought to just make the taxes 40,000 or 50,000 snf provide more services then. Why not 70,000? Nobody minds paying so much to live in such a great place.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Nothing good ever happens in Schenectady... If something good ever were to happen... let us know, we'll destroy it as soon as possible!
There are good things that happen here. There are good people - such as many in public safety, that got into the job because they wanted to serve.
There are hard working people who do not take advantage of the system that are making a difference.
But then there are the Gillen's, the McCarthy's, and the Morris', who actually think they are making things better, but they are only sucking the taxpayers dry, while the city as a whole continues its downward spiral.
Go up Crane Street Mr. Morris, and tell us Proctor's is really improving our city.
Take a ride around our neighborhoods Mr. Gillen, and tell us that the 100+ million invested is improving our quality of life.
It's sickening to see these "public servants" with their highly inflated salaries and the massive pension requirements they will have. Municipalities and even our state may need to declare bankruptcy as more and more people and businesses move out of state, while the aging infrastructure costs, pension costs, and other entitlement costs soar.
I think there should be a separate definition for a Schenectady pothole. Those are potholes created by counter sinking manholes 6" below the driving surface, and positioned where attempting to avoid them causes you to drive into on coming traffic, or the bike lane.
It is the responsibility of the HOME OWNER to pay ALL property tax bill accordingly and -- ONTIME!
Once again - the nayboobs seek to make an issue of something where there is NO ISSUE -- strictly for political purposes..
total BS Hamburg!!!!!!!!!!!! the city has a RESPONSIBILITY AND OBLIGATION to send a tax bill to a new homeonwer!!!!
Duh! Of course, you know NOTHING AT ALL about property taxes because you do not now nor have ever owned property.
While the city bills four times a year, the VAST MAJORITY of people across the whole dang USA pay taxes ANNUALLY. Your dem buddy councilman Joe Allen did just that, except he thought it's proper to be delinquent throughout the year and pay at the END of the year. It's not unusual for the bank to pay the FULL year from escrow! Of course, you do not know these things because you are not a taxpayer.
This IS the dems scamming the homeonwers just to keep exempting millionaires from paying taxes!!!!!!!!!!
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
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