Good afternoon,
Sorry for sending this extra notice but there are two items of concern today that I need to explain with hope the word can quickly spread to keep all informed.
When the town council adopted our budget in late June, we didn’t have finite information from the state on the amount of state aid to education we would get and there was no decision on how the car tax phase out would be handled in this fiscal year. Now, about six weeks later, federal officials are still debating the details of another stimulus package and the state therefore still is unable to establish a full budget for fiscal 2021. Despite those continuing unknowns we are required by state law to set our tax roll by August 15 which starts the process for issuance of property tax bills. We had hoped to eliminate any chance that there would be need for a change in any part of the budget or the bills, but the time that our national officials are taking to negotiate a stimulus package makes it impossible for us to wait any longer. We are now forced to go forward based upon the judgements we have all made to date. So, earlier today I ordered the process to begin. The process for printing and mailing the property tax bills is now moving forward. We expect that they will be in the mail on or about August 24th. The due date for the first quarter payments will be September 15, 2020. Please note that this will be for property and tangible taxes but we will still be waiting for state information as it relates to the auto tax phase out so car tax bills will still be on hold. I thank everyone for the patience and for expressing concern about being able to make payments on time. We are very fortunate to be surrounded by such diligence.
I also want to apologize for the way that we recently sent notice about need to confirm senior and veteran tax exemptions. That notice should have explained that the forms were being sent because the annual test that our auditor performed indicated we had files that did not contain sufficient documentation for some continuing exemptions. So, we need to get some updated paperwork for those exemptions, but there is plenty of time to do so. Please do not feel like you are at risk of losing your exemption in the bills that will be mailed soon. Though we don’t want to encourage anyone to wait to the last minute, we want all to know that if we get the documents back by the first quarter of calendar 2021 all will be fine. One question that has been raised on veteran exemptions is what to do where a DD-214 is needed but no longer available. A copy of a DD-214 can be obtained by calling 1-866-272-6272 or logging onto this website: https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records
Again, I apologize for the anxiety that the notice we sent may have caused. There is plenty of time to complete the documents. We have been flooded with calls on this so if you have not reached us on the phone please try again in a few days.
The NATO summit at The Hague in the Netherlands on Tuesday will have a different agenda. The meeting comes right on the heels of the ceasefire between Iran and Israel that was announced by President Trump on Monday. NATO leaders will now discuss the U.S. and perhaps NATO's involvement in that peace process. 
