One of the worst downturns in generations has cities and towns across the state hiking taxes, laying off firefighters and howling about cuts in state aid.
And some now are starting to get tough on tax deadbeats, with scrappy Revere having threatened to foreclose on a local racetrack, and embattled Lawrence hiring a private collection company to force tax laggards to pay up.
But, sadly, these seem to be the exception to the rules.
Even amid an epic downturn that has local communities battling to keep basic services intact, dozens of cities and towns show little if any signs of taking tough measures to collect what’s owed from tax deadbeats.
A look at state Land Court records for 318 cities and towns across the state is revealing, to say the least: Nearly 70 percent did not take any action last year to foreclose on deadbeat property owners, with commercial property owners often owing the biggest chunks. Several more communities filed just one or two cases last year.
Apparently, some local officials would rather pressure state taxpayers for more money – or hike the bill on your office or retail building – than do the tough and unpleasant work of settling up with a few recalcitrant property owners.
At stake is potentially hundreds of millions in unpaid taxes at a time when many cities and towns across the state are looking to boost taxes or lay off school teachers or police officers to make ends meet.
“Aggressive tax collection usually results in the payment of taxes nine times out of 10,” said Gerry D’Ambrosio, whose Boston-based law firm has carved out a lucrative niche helping to get tax deadbeats to pay up. “Most people in these communities pay their taxes. It would be unfair for them to let those people off the hook.”
Going to state Land Court to petition to foreclose on a property for nonpayment of taxes is typically the last step in a long and winding process. But sometimes only the threat of losing it all is enough to force some commercial property and business owners to settle up.
However, the number of towns and cities that took no steps at all last year to foreclose on properties with overdue tax bills is breathtaking. Communities both from across the state and from across income lines were well represented in the zero column on my spreadsheet. There are upscale suburbs like Lexington, Concord, Cohasset, resort towns like Chatham and Eastham and college towns like Northampton and Amherst.
Middle-income and working-class communities like Dedham, Burlington and Methuen are also apparently no fans of foreclosing on properties with unpaid tax bills, not to mention old industrial cities like Haverhill, Fitchburg, Gardner and Leominster.
One of the most egregious examples may be the city of Springfield, which reportedly has a backlog of $18 million in unpaid taxes. Springfield made little if any effort last year to foreclose on tax deadbeats, even as it sits on one of the largest piles of unpaid tax bills in the state.
Springfield officials could not be reached for comment.
However, in Newton, home of the $200 million, budget-busting school, officials are unrepentant. Despite $3 million in unpaid taxes, the city does not, as a policy, foreclose on properties for unpaid taxes, whether commercial or residential, said Jeremy Solomon, a spokesman for the city.
Newton officials instead rely on placing liens, with a 16-percent interest rate, on the properties in question. That ensures the city will get paid first when the office building or home is sold, he argued.
“It’s kind of our philosophy. We really don’t want to be in the business of seizing residential properties. The same goes for commercial properties,” Solomon said.
“One way or another the city is going to get its money,” he said.
While it’s understandably hard for local officials to go after struggling homeowners, sometimes some of the biggest deadbeats can be commercial property owners.
Revere’s Wonderland dog track ran up a massive tab in unpaid taxes, reaching $800,000 before city officials went to Land Court to launch foreclosure proceedings. Faced with the loss of their property, the owners anted up.
D’Ambrosio, the Boston-based lawyer who has made a career pursuing tax deadbeats, recalls another case in the city of Marlborough involving a local business owner. This was not a case of hard times. Rather the owner had better things to do than pay his local taxes. Here again, the city threatened foreclosure and the businessman coughed up more than $100,000 in badly needed cash for municipal coffers.
“There are those other people out there who are playing the game,” D’Ambrosio said. “They just don’t want to pay their taxes.”
Luckily a few other cities and towns are also doing the right thing.
The city of Lawrence has hired a New Jersey company to go after its tax deadbeats, who at one point left the old mill town holding the bag for $20 million in unpaid levies. That number is now down to $13 million.
Chelsea officials took a similar approach a few years ago, clearing millions in unpaid taxes off their books, according to Jay Ash, the city manager.
Meanwhile, in Quincy, city officials are refusing to renew business and liquor licenses if the owners are behind on their taxes. That has prompted roughly 100 business owners to ante up.
“It’s not making a lot of friends but it seems to be working,” said Deborah Coughlin, treasurer and collector for Quincy.
Still, it’s not enough.
Roughly 218 cities and towns across the state filed no foreclosure petitions last year in state Land Court. Of these, another 137 made no attempts to seize the property of tax deadbeats over the past three years.
It’s a free ride for the deadbeats out there who view paying their taxes as an optional exercise. And the rest of us, homeowners and office building owners alike, are being asked to foot the bill for their free ride.
