Health & Fitness
Do you need a little more time to raise $5,000 in order to pay your property taxes this July?
The Town of Berlin should allow installment payments of property taxes.
With dramatic increases expected in Berlin property taxes in forthcoming years, especially in light of the State of Connecticut's expected cutbacks in municipal aid, it is time for the Town of Berlin to allow property taxes to be paid in installments rather than entirely in one payment in advance of the Town's fiscal year.
Other municipalities allow multiple payments of property taxes. New Britain is on a two-payment plan; Meriden is on a four-payment plan, allowing quarterly payments.
In this time of very tight money, it is not unreasonable for the Town of Berlin to extend the courtesy of allowing its good citizens to pay their property taxes in installments rather than entirely up front all at once. Of course, for those residents who have the cash or don't budget very well, they still have the choice to pay all of their property taxes at once. But a number of residents are struggling with an insufficient cash flow, and to expect them to pay $4,000, $5,000, or $6,000 up front in July imposes an undue hardship on them; and it would certainly not be fair to penalize them for simply being unable to pay an entire year up front in advance of the Town of Berlin's fiscal year.
