Johnston car tax bills to be delayed

Due to the uncertainty surrounding the proposed state budget and its approval, the Town of Johnston will delay sending out car tax bills.

According to Mayor Joseph Polisena, he recently had a conversation with Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello and commended him for his car tax program, which the mayor called “much needed relief.” During that conversation, Mattiello indicated that more than 135,000 cars off the tax rolls during the first year of the plan.

“Obviously, I’m sure that some of those cars will be from Johnston, and then we started thinking about it and I said it would be a logistical nightmare to send out car tax bills,” said Polisena, who believes it may take another week or more for the budget to receive final approval. “So we’re going to hold off on printing the bills, and then what we’ll do is we’ll wait and see what the reimbursement is going to be and what the deductions are going to be.”

Polisena believes that sending out tax bills now could possibly tie up resident’s money, which later may need to be returned.

“We’re going to wait. We’ll give them enough time to make payments, within reason. We haven’t decided yet when those bills will be sent, but residents will be given time to make their quarterly payments,” said the mayor.

While Polisena is unsure of what relief will be offered should Mattiello’s six-year car tax phaseout be approved, it’s his opinion that some residents may still get a bill where nothing is owed as those cars may have been removed from tax rolls. He also indicated that, if car tax bills were sent out now, a reimbursement program would be a major inconvenience for both the residents and the town.

“If those people who no longer have to pay taxes had paid, and we had to cut checks for abatements, it would be a nightmare. Plus, I don’t want to tie up people’s money; that’s valuable money they can use for their families,” said Polisena.

A notification to some residents of the changes will be sent out via their real estate tax bill, and a message about the change will also be placed on the electronic billboard outside of Town Hall.

“I like the speaker’s proposal because I think the governor’s is at 30 percent, but this proposal is basically a phase-out like it was originally,” said Polisena. “I think it will stimulate more people if they want to buy new cars, too. Right now, people may be reluctant to buy a car as they may be paying a low amount of taxes on an older car, so I think it may stimulate people to buy new cars or buy newer cars.”