Scarsdale Treasurer Answers Questions About the Tax Billing Process

In the wake of the mystery of the missing school tax bills in September, 2023, we asked Scarsdale Village Treasurer Ann Scaglione some questions about the preparation and mailing of tax bills and here is what she shared:

-Please forward me photo of the mailing receipt for the bills:

Attached please find the postal receipt of the 2023 School Tax Bills. Please note, the number of pieces indicated by the Post Office agrees with the bills produced by the Treasurer’s Department.

-Do you have any samples of the bills in the window envelopes? I know from my many years of experience in direct mail marketing that sometimes the address portion slips or is not folded correctly and the address does not show through the window of the envelope causing the mail to be undeliverable.

For each collection that we prepare bills, we work with our software provider to ensure that the format is correct, which includes the standard folding that will align with our window envelopes.

-What is the Village’s procedure when undeliverable bills are returned to the Village? Are residents called? Are the bills re-mailed?

My department reviews mail returned. If the address is incorrect or outdated, we will update our system and send out the mail in a new envelope.

-For those who escrow their taxes, are the same bills sent to the banks in the same format or is this done electronically? Did we have any incidence of banks failing to receiving the paper bills?

We receive data files from the tax service organizations before each tax billing and upload this information into our database before the bills are prepared. This is listing identifies the parcel and the bank code assigned. Electronic billing files of the escrowed accounts are submitted to the tax service organizations, so they know the amount of taxes due on each parcel. We then receive bulk payments, typically on the last day of the collection, for these payments that we apply in our system.

-Has the Village given any thought to marking the outside of the envelopes, “Tax Bill Inside” so that people don’t mistake the envelopes for other communications?

This is not something that we have done here – great idea to consider! Thank you.