Tax Collector
Your Town/County tax bill is mailed on or about January 20th and is due without late fees on the last day of February. All payment information is on your tax bill.
If you want quick information, forms, phone numbers, and so on, it is immediately below. If you want the big picture/deep dive into how this all works, and have some time on your hands, see the wall of text all the way below.
Note that this page is about the County/Town Tax Collector. We do not collect the School or Village taxes, so pretty please do not call us for School or Village tax information, which we do not have; use the phone numbers below instead, because that is all we can give you.
If you want quick information, forms, phone numbers, and so on, it is immediately below. If you want the big picture/deep dive into how this all works, and have some time on your hands, see the wall of text all the way below.
Note that this page is about the County/Town Tax Collector. We do not collect the School or Village taxes, so pretty please do not call us for School or Village tax information, which we do not have; use the phone numbers below instead, because that is all we can give you.
HOURS AND CONTACT INFORMATIONJanuary through May
Monday through Thursday: 10:00 am -12:30 pm and 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm Please put your bill and check in an envelope and place through the front door drop slot (left hand door); we will mail you a receipt. Your bill number and phone number on the check are very important! Cash Payments should be made at the Rhinebeck Town Hall Town Clerk's Office. 80 East Market Street Rhinebeck, New York 12572 (845) 876-3203 (845) 876-5885 (fax) [email protected] staffJoan Winne, Tax Collector
Shelly Day, Deputy Tax Collector Sarah Derbyshire, Deputy Tax Collector |
I need . . .School tax information. Please call (845) 871-5520 x5527.
Village tax information. Please call (845) 876-7015 To change name or address information on my tax bill (print this form and mail, email or fax to the Assessor's Office) County/Town tax information for this year or last year. Please go to InfoTaxOnline.com. County/Town tax information three years older or more. Please email the Tax Collector. Information on a tax bill under collection by the County. Please call (845) 486-2026. |
QWOG
[qUESTIONS WE OFTEN GET]
How come the bill says to mail my tax payment to Buffalo?
Because that is where our bank, M&T, has its tax lockbox collection service.
Yeah, I bet the Town pays a lot for that service.
Nope, not a dime.
What if I want to pay my taxes to a real person, you know, in person?
You can always pay in person at Town Hall.
How come my address is in Rhinebeck, but I pay taxes to the Town of Clinton (or Milan, or Red Hook, or Hyde Park)?
New York State is a confusing tangle of jurisdictional lines. There is no necessary, or even logical, relationship among municipal, school, or postal boundaries. It is possible to pay taxes to Milan, but receive mail from the Rhinebeck post office and send your kids to Red Hook schools. Fun fact: the Clinton Town Hall has a Rhinebeck mailing address! Want to know exactly what town, school district and post office your house is in? Look here.
Because that is where our bank, M&T, has its tax lockbox collection service.
Yeah, I bet the Town pays a lot for that service.
Nope, not a dime.
What if I want to pay my taxes to a real person, you know, in person?
You can always pay in person at Town Hall.
How come my address is in Rhinebeck, but I pay taxes to the Town of Clinton (or Milan, or Red Hook, or Hyde Park)?
New York State is a confusing tangle of jurisdictional lines. There is no necessary, or even logical, relationship among municipal, school, or postal boundaries. It is possible to pay taxes to Milan, but receive mail from the Rhinebeck post office and send your kids to Red Hook schools. Fun fact: the Clinton Town Hall has a Rhinebeck mailing address! Want to know exactly what town, school district and post office your house is in? Look here.
As promised, the big picture; try to stay awake!
Town residents might pay a number of property taxes, including school, county, town, fire, library or water. Village residents also pay Village property taxes. Although there are different taxing jurisdictions, the assessments of all taxable property within the Town are handled by the same Assessor, who is appointed by the Town Board. Please contact the Assessors Office for information on exemptions, assessments and the grievance process. The collection of the various taxes is initially handled by three different tax collectors: School, Village and Town. The County is the ultimate tax collector for all jurisdictions.
The process begins with the Town Assessors, who value your property for tax purposes. The yearly budgets of the various taxing jurisdictions are then set by their respective governing bodies (for example, the School Board, the Town Board, the County Legislature, the Library Board). The County then uses the assessments and the budgets to figure out the necessary tax rates, after which it prints the tax bills and sends them to the appropriate tax collector for distribution and collection. Fun fact, over the past 10 years or so, Rhinebeck has consistently had one of the lowest town tax rates in Dutchess County! Yea!
The Town Tax Collector mails your County/Town property tax bills yearly no later than the last week of January, and collects the taxes until May 31, after which all unpaid taxes are referred to the Dutchess County Department of Finance for collection. Once referred to the County, the Town has no further involvement with, or knowledge of, the collection status. Call the County at (845) 486-2025 for this information. Note that unlike School taxes, County/Town taxes are not payable in installments. New York State law requires that only the exact amount be paid--we can accept no more and no less.
There are certain times you will see your School or Village taxes appear on your County/Town tax bill. This happens if you don’t pay your School or Village tax by a certain date; in that case, the County will place the past due amount on the next County/Town tax bill and have the Town Tax Collector collect it (this is known as a re-levy and will appear on your bill as, for example, “RET 2014 School Tax.” The re-levy is treated, for collection purposes, the same as the County/Town tax that appears on the same bill; this means that if that bill goes unpaid, the County takes over collection at the end of May as described above. For example, if you did not pay your 2014 School property tax, you would have seen that amount (plus some penalties) added to your 2015 County/Town tax bill.
Late fees are (very) strictly governed by New York State Tax Law. The Tax Collector has no discretion to waive a late fee. This is true even if for some reason you never receive your tax bill. Don't believe that? See Real Property Tax Law Section 922(3), which says: "The failure to mail any such statement, or the failure of the addressee to receive the same, shall not in any way affect the validity of the taxes or interest prescribed by law with respect thereto." Tough stuff, but there it is.
For the amount of the late fees, please consult your bill, but generally County/Town taxes paid on or before February 28 (or the 29th in Leap Years) incur no penalty; from March 1 to March 31 a 2% penalty; from April 1 to April 30 a 3% penalty; and from May 1 to May 31 a 4% penalty. But: if the last day of the month is on a weekend or a holiday, the last day for payment kicks over to the next business day. So New York State throws us a bone occasionally.
The process begins with the Town Assessors, who value your property for tax purposes. The yearly budgets of the various taxing jurisdictions are then set by their respective governing bodies (for example, the School Board, the Town Board, the County Legislature, the Library Board). The County then uses the assessments and the budgets to figure out the necessary tax rates, after which it prints the tax bills and sends them to the appropriate tax collector for distribution and collection. Fun fact, over the past 10 years or so, Rhinebeck has consistently had one of the lowest town tax rates in Dutchess County! Yea!
The Town Tax Collector mails your County/Town property tax bills yearly no later than the last week of January, and collects the taxes until May 31, after which all unpaid taxes are referred to the Dutchess County Department of Finance for collection. Once referred to the County, the Town has no further involvement with, or knowledge of, the collection status. Call the County at (845) 486-2025 for this information. Note that unlike School taxes, County/Town taxes are not payable in installments. New York State law requires that only the exact amount be paid--we can accept no more and no less.
There are certain times you will see your School or Village taxes appear on your County/Town tax bill. This happens if you don’t pay your School or Village tax by a certain date; in that case, the County will place the past due amount on the next County/Town tax bill and have the Town Tax Collector collect it (this is known as a re-levy and will appear on your bill as, for example, “RET 2014 School Tax.” The re-levy is treated, for collection purposes, the same as the County/Town tax that appears on the same bill; this means that if that bill goes unpaid, the County takes over collection at the end of May as described above. For example, if you did not pay your 2014 School property tax, you would have seen that amount (plus some penalties) added to your 2015 County/Town tax bill.
Late fees are (very) strictly governed by New York State Tax Law. The Tax Collector has no discretion to waive a late fee. This is true even if for some reason you never receive your tax bill. Don't believe that? See Real Property Tax Law Section 922(3), which says: "The failure to mail any such statement, or the failure of the addressee to receive the same, shall not in any way affect the validity of the taxes or interest prescribed by law with respect thereto." Tough stuff, but there it is.
For the amount of the late fees, please consult your bill, but generally County/Town taxes paid on or before February 28 (or the 29th in Leap Years) incur no penalty; from March 1 to March 31 a 2% penalty; from April 1 to April 30 a 3% penalty; and from May 1 to May 31 a 4% penalty. But: if the last day of the month is on a weekend or a holiday, the last day for payment kicks over to the next business day. So New York State throws us a bone occasionally.