By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
City tax bills — real estate, personal property, motor vehicle and sewer — have been mailed and are payable in two installments: July and January. Included in the mailing are the new two-year beach parking stickers.
Each tax bill, which is sent out once a year, has three parts: a payment coupon for July, payment coupon for January and payment coupon for taxpayers’ records.
Taxes were due July 1. Payments after Aug. 3 are considered delinquent and subject to interest, Tax Collector Dorothy Chambrelli said.
Thanks to the city’s COVID-19 relief ordinance, delinquent taxes remaining due and payable from April 1 are subject to a reduced interest rate of 3% per year for 90 days from April 1. New taxes due July 1 will have a 30-day grace period and in the event they are paid late will also qualify for a reduced interest rate for 90 days.
Taxpayers can make a payment on the city website at https://www.mytaxbill.org/inet/bill/home.do?town=westhaven. Sewer bills are on the same page but under a separate heading. Tax payment history can also be viewed and printed.
The fees for credit cards and electronic checks are available at http://cityofwesthaven.com/276/Payments.
Current taxes can be paid by the drop box at the Main Street entrance of City Hall. Current taxes can also be paid by mail — check or money order, no cash — to the tax office lockbox: City of West Haven, Tax Collector, P.O. Box 150461, Hartford 06115-0461. When paying by lockbox or drop box, the canceled check is the receipt.
After Aug. 3, taxes with interest can be paid by mail to the City of West Haven, Tax Collector, P.O. Box 401, West Haven 06516.
West Haven residents who own their vehicles and are current on their motor vehicle taxes will receive the 2020-22 beach stickers in the mail with their tax bills. Anyone who leases a vehicle will also receive a sticker in the mail.
Delinquent taxpayers are not eligible for the free stickers, which expire June 30, 2022, until their motor vehicle taxes are paid, city officials said.
Beach stickers are for new, leased and military-exempt vehicles, including motorcycles. A “new” vehicle means it was registered in West Haven after Oct. 1, 2019. Commercial vehicles are excluded and will not receive a sticker.
Each sticker includes the vehicle’s license plate number printed on it and is nontransferable.
Beach stickers are a benefit for resident taxpayers whose vehicles are registered in West Haven. They allow free parking in the following municipal lots: South Street, Dawson Avenue, Sea Bluff, Bradley Point, Rock Street, Oak Street, Altschuler Plaza, Morse Park, Sandy Point and the boat launch on April Street.
The boat launch is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and closed overnight. Use of the launch is for city residents only.
Beach stickers are only valid if affixed to the inside lower left corner of the vehicle’s windshield.
Anyone who did not receive a beach sticker or has recently purchased a new vehicle registered in West Haven can contact the tax office at 203-937-3525 or [email protected].
Nonresident stickers are not available at this time because of COVID-19 restrictions limiting the capacity of beach parking lots.
For beach sticker information, call the tax office at (203) 937-3525.