Under “An Act to Address Challenges Faced by Municipalities and State Authorities Resulting From COVID-19,” Chapter 53 of the Acts of 2020, the town has adopted local options to extend due dates for real and personal property tax payments and applications for exemptions and a waiver of interest on certain municipal tax and other bills paid by June 30, 2020. See below.
- The due date of your real and personal property tax bill has been extended to June 1, 2020. June 1, 2020 is the new due date even if the due date for payment printed on previously mailed tax bill is May 1, 2020.
- The town has also voted to waive interest and other penalty for late payment of any excise, tax, betterment assessment or apportionment thereof, or other charge added to a tax for any payments with a due date on or after March 10, 2020 where payment is made late but before June 30, 2020. This applies to late payments of bills that have a due date of March 10, 2020 or after, when such bills are paid late but paid on or before June 30. This waiver of interest does not apply to bills with due dates before March 10, 2020 or if the bill is not paid by June 30.
NOTE – If the municipal offices are closed on the June 1, 2020 extended due date for tax payments or filing of exemption applications as a result of the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus or the declaration of a state of emergency issued by the governor on March 10, 2020, the due dates for tax payments and applications for exemptions are not extended – they will be due on June 1, 2020 even if the municipal offices are closed. (See section 10(b) of the Act.)
Although the Hawley Town Office is currently closed to the public, payments may still be mailed to the Town Office or delivered to our lockbox at the side of the building. Payments can also be made online on the Hawley website www.townofhawley.com (look for a blue “view or pay bill” button on the right-hand side of the homepage). Questions can be left on the answering machine at 413-339-5518, or by emailing info@townofhawley.com, where questions will be forwarded to the proper town official.
We know that this current emergency is putting a financial toll on many of us, and we hope that this extension and temporary interest waiver helps taxpayers continue to keep current on their property tax bills. While we are making this extension available to those who truly need it, we would certainly appreciate it if everyone who CAN pay by the ordinary deadline does so.
