PRESS RELEASE FROM THE TOWN OF BOLTON 7/10/24

On June 28, 2024, Town of Bolton staff became aware of an issue with some tax bills being calculated with the previous assessed value and the new mil rate resulting in undervalued tax bills. Further investigation revealed that this affected 556 accounts. Those accounts are being rebilled correctly. Only those 556 affected accounts have a revised deadline of August 30, 2024, to pay without penalty. All other tax bills are due not later than August 1, 2024. Closer investigation also found that the grand list calculations were incorrect, and it is $30,703,164.00 lower than it should be. With the current mil rate and the new grand list valuation the Town will collect approximately $1,000,000.00 more in taxes than is necessary to operate the Town for the current fiscal year. The Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee met on July 8, 2024, to discuss this matter. At their meeting they determined that they would continue to collect taxes based on the proper evaluations and the current mil rate. They also were in consensus that they would like to return funds to taxpayers in excess of the amount approved by taxpayers for this fiscal year. In an effort to determine the best way to accomplish that they formed an ad hoc committee which includes members of both boards. The charge of that committee is to work with the town administrator and town attorney to determine the most effective and efficient way to accomplish that task. They have also been tasked with completely investigating the issue and determining what happened and how to prevent it from occurring again in the future.