By PETE WALTON
The Neptune City Borough Council has extended the grace period for the payment of second quarter property taxes to June 1.
Gov. Murphy authorized the extension just hours before taxes were due on May 1.
The change mainly benefits taxpayers who own their own homes or business properties outright and do not have a mortgage loan from a bank.
Banks generally collect escrow funds from borrowers for property taxes and pay them well before they are due.
The council held a special meeting online earlier this week to pass the resolution extending the grace period from May 11 to June 1.
The vote was 6-0.
“This idea was first floated in the state Assembly,” Mayor Andrew Wardell said. “We began preparing but when [the proposal] failed in the [state] Senate, we thought it wouldn’t happen.”
Once the governor gave the go-ahead on April 28, Wardell said Borough Adminisrator Chris Cherbini and Tax Collector Al Jardine began “a two-day turnaround to make this happen.”
The mayor noted that most of the property tax dollars collected by the borough go to entities other than the municipal government.
“We are the collection agency for the schools and the county,” Wardell said.
Councilwoman Pamela Renee said she was especially concerned for small business owners and was pleased that the council was able to extend the tax deadline.
She paid tribute to former council members Joseph Zajack and Michelle Lewis, among others, for their contributions to responsible financial decision making. Renee said sound planning in the past enabled made the extension to be approved.
Wardell thanked former mayor Robert J. Brown, who Wardell said was an advocate for “good fiscal planning for a very long time.”
Even though the deadline to pay was extended, interest for second-quarter taxes paid after June 1 will be calculated back to May 1.
