In an attempt to find out what, if anything, has gone wrong with U.S. Postal Service mail delivery locally, Hopewell Township officials are asking residents to fill out a survey by Dec. 15 and to notify them of any issues they may have experienced.
The survey is available on the municipal website at www.hopewelltwp.org. It was triggered by the delayed delivery of the township’s 2018-19 property tax bills by the Pennington Post Office, which handles mail for residents who live in Pennington Borough and Hopewell Township.
The property tax bills were supposed to have been delivered by the due date in August, but many property owners did not receive their tax bill in time and some did not receive a tax bill at all, according to municipal officials.
The survey asks respondents whether they received their third-quarter property tax bill and to check all that applied to them in the last six months – missing mail, delayed mail, mail delivered to the wrong address and “other issues.”
Some residents who have filled out the survey to date have reported their tax bill was not delivered; that mail is delivered late in the day or not at all; and that it is not uncommon to receive someone else’s mail.
Hopewell Township officials will submit all of the resident data and feedback to the Pennington Post Office for review in January. A report, based on the findings, will be issued to residents in the spring.
The late delivery of property tax bills caused headaches for municipal officials. While there is no legal requirement for a town to send out property tax bills, Hopewell Township does so because many people rely on the bill as a reminder to pay their taxes.
Property owners who paid their taxes after the August due date were charged interest on the unpaid balance.
Municipal officials, however, worked out a plan so that property owners who paid their third-quarter taxes late, but before Sept. 7, would receive credit on their fourth-quarter tax bill.
As a result, the interest those property owners paid on their third-quarter tax bill showed up as a credit on their fourth-quarter tax bill and the amount due for the fourth quarter was less than it otherwise would have been.