PETERSHAM — Tax Collector Renee Wingertsman is requesting a $3,000 raise in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget. While presenting the budget recently, she told selectmen and the Finance Committee that after surveying pay scales in surrounding towns, “Most of the towns pay better than Petersham.”
The total budget requested is $33,787. The total salary line is $15,721, including the $3,000 pay raise. The remaining line items are flat-funded from the prior year.
Wingertsman said she collected $70,000 in back taxes on a property.
“I have 12 people who were going to be put into tax title,” she said. “Four are now on payment plans.”
Asked what happens to the people who don’t pay their taxes, she said over time they could end up delinquent and the town would own their property.
The budget includes $800 for advertising notices and $1,500 for the legal registry. Wingertsman periodically prints, as do other tax collectors, the names and amounts of taxes due in the newspaper.
“When people see the notice in the paper — it’s like a warning shot,” she said.
Tax bills are due April 1 and Oct. 1. If taxes are not paid on time, late charges are added and interest accrues at a rate of 14 percent per year.
It was noted that Wingertsman is allowed to keep the fees. A member of the Finance Committee said it’s one way her wages are increased.
What is charged? “It depends on how fiercely I go after the taxes,” she said.
Reviewing the information Wingertsman submitted to the board regarding area towns’ collection practices, Selectboard Chairman Nancy Allen said, “Looking at the data, if we changed your salary we would need to look at the fees. It may change the structure. We need to look at the whole picture.”
Wingertsman says the collector’s office is open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Mondays, and by appointment.
“It’s more than five hours a week — maybe 15 to 20 this time of year,” she said.
The line item for excise software setup is $530, and $4,647 for yearly support for real estate software. Wingertsman said the software is “antiquated.”