City of Worcester: GoLocal’s Delinquent Property Tax Story Lacks Clarity

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Patrick Sargent, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

On Monday, GoLocalWorcester published the story "Businesses in Worcester Owe More than $2 Million in Delinquent Property Taxes." A review of tax documents provided by the City of Worcester which contain real estate taxes outstanding for fiscal years 2015 and prior, current as of September 4, 2015, showed that more than 300 businesses in Worcester owe the city nearly $2.2 million in delinquent property tax payments.

GoLocalWorcester’s review of the tax documents found that 40 of the businesses listed owe property taxes for multiple fiscal years.

In response to GoLocal's story, the City of Worcester provided the following statement for clarification:

Because GoLocal Worcester chose not to seek comments or clarifications, nor to ask a single question of the city’s Department of Administration & Finance or City Manager’s Office before publishing, the story “Businesses in Worcester Owe More than $2 Million in Delinquent Property Taxes” lacks significant clarity. This statement should serve to provide some much-needed context.

Had we been given the chance to comment, we would have pointed out Worcester’s excellent track record in collecting delinquent property taxes. In the past five years, the City has billed more than $365 million in commercial/industrial taxes. Of that, just $2.1 million, or 0.58 percent, remains delinquent.

Worcester also continues to do much better than other Gateway Cities in collecting property taxes. For the sake of comparison, in fiscal year 2014, Worcester’s delinquent accounts represented just 3 percent of our total tax levy. According to official audited statements, the cities of Springfield and Lowell were at 6 percent; Brockton was at 10 percent; and Fall River had delinquent accounts totaling 11 percent of its 2014 tax levy.

It is inevitable that some property owners will be unable to pay their taxes. But all of this information – which was readily available to anyone interested in asking for it – shows that, through the city’s strong financial management, Worcester has had great success in collecting what is owed.