Toy Town to recoup back taxes

Toy Town to recoup back taxes
Debt to be auctioned off to others to collect funds

Damien Fisher
News Staff Writer

Toy Town is getting ready for a change in the way it handles delinquent taxes as it prepares to auction off the tax titles for properties seriously behind on payments.

Town Manager James Kreidler said the town is still gathering information in preparation for a mid-January auction of approximately $1.1 million in delinquent tax titles.
Winchendon is looking for ways to cut down its $3.4 million deficit, and the tax title auction is one way to generate money quickly to pay down the debt.

“That’s the plan,” Mr. Kreidler said.

A third-party company would pay the town the entire amount owed for the delinquent tax title, and then collect that money from the homeowners. The company would be able to make a profit off any interest on a payment plan negotiated with the homeowner for the amount owed.

Not all of the tax titles on properties considered delinquent will be purchased through the auction, but a significant number will and that money will assist Winchendon with reducing its debt.

This is a change from how Winchendon has always operated, according to Mr. Kreidler. The town has always given homeowners the opportunity to make payment arrangements with the town when they fall on hard financial times. That previously “neighborly” policy is now a casualty of the town’s financial crisis.

Voters approved borrowing up to $6 million from the state to pay off the town’s $3.4 million debt at the Nov. 24 Special Town Meeting. While the state will allow the town to borrow that sum over the next 10 years, Mr. Kreidler said he plans to use no more money than is needed to pay off the deficit, and to pay off the state loan as quickly as possible.

Aside from the delinquent tax titles, Mr. Kreidler hopes to use $1.5 million in the town’s stabilization money to put toward the debt. This will lessen the amount taxpayers will have to pay back to the state.