The line outside the Tax Collector’s office on Tuesday was more than 10. What gives? These lines and longer generally appear right after tax bills go out July 1. These taxpayers were especially cranky. Their vehicles had been booted. Why? The city is cracking down on motor vehicle tax delinquents. If you don’t pay they boot you. If you don’t respond quickly they tow you. Ouch.
Details from the Tax Collector’s Office:
Booting
Residents with delinquent motor vehicle taxes have been issued warrants. These warrants enable the City to “boot” the vehicles stated on the warrant. The vehicle will be released once the taxpayer has paid all bills in their name. There is a $95.00 boot fee added to the tax bill. The car will be towed within 24-48 hours. It will be automatically towed if it is found that the boot has been tampered with. Once the bill has been paid the resident will be informed where their car has been towed to. There is an additional fee for the towing and nightly storage by the towing company. For tax bills over $500, the vehicle can be towed on the spot.
For frequently asked questions about the tax office see here www.bridgeportct.gov/TAXCOLLECTOR/Pages/taxFAQs.aspx
We should put the “BOOT” to Finch.
They should also boot that nice TV with cable that is in the hallway.
I didn’t notice in the link to the Tax Collector’s site, but is their a minimum threshold that must be met before they boot your vehicle, $100, $200, etc?
City taxes for the most part are taxes on property: land, buildings of all types and personal equipment used in business. The bulk of City revenue comes from this source.
The theory is you should be able to afford your property, meaning if you have a home you should be able to pay the property taxes; if you have a business you should figure on paying taxes on the business equipment; and if you have a car, in addition to fuel, oil changes, new tires, etc, registration, license, insurance, there are taxes.
And thus the Denver boot came into use because it was a visible addition to auto wheel design that incapacitated a vehicle until it was removed. And it only was removed after paying taxes, interest and whatever other fees were necessary to own and entirely control your personal vehicle.
The question has been asked with some frequency, why property tax owners, especially large ones should not be treated in equivalent fashion? And the practical answer is it is hard to design a physical device to place on land or a building sufficient to embarrass a recalcitrant taxpayer.
However, what if the City took the position that until you cleared every City obligation of a tax nature from the books, you would have no standing to pursue other activity in the City. Let’s call that the “Bridgeport boot.” The Mayor can wear the boots and instruct all of his department directors (minions) to pay no attention to tax scofflaws. That would send out a message. When the taxes rose above a certain level, a call from that taxpayer could go direct to the Mayor’s office, where they would keep the person waiting on the line for hours on end, and then hang up, forcing the person to call again. No email can be used for communication, rather only a typed letter in a format to be determined by the Mayor (and not provided to people until their first letter that is de facto incorrect).
The same sense of fairness for all taxpayers could thus be shown to “big people” as well as all the “little people.”
Brevity, B2. Try it.
yahooy // May 11, 2011 at 6:18 pm
To your posting
yahooy,
Not a good suggestion as all we have had is the deceptions and it will take a lot of explaining to understand and then correct the damage that’s been done!
I urge B2 to keep unfolding these huge problems for us to understand and then deal with.
Tofu Tootsie,
I didn’t say his stuff was bad. I asked he get to his point a little quicker, that’s all. I don’t have the attention span to wade through all of his clever repartee just to find out he thinks Gomes should withdraw and align with MJF.
Did Sal DiNardo get booted?
Hey Kid: Sal has dealer plates on all his cars and only pays’ a small fee to the State.
This way he avoids all city taxes we pay. This way he screws Fairfield and Bridgeport out of taxes, just like Mario Testa who votes in Bridgeport but lives in Monroe. DiNardo has twelve sets of plates, and where are the SeaBees when you need them?
Well, my time went so quickly
I went lickety-splitly out to my old ’55
As I pulled away slowly, feelin’ so holy
God knows I was feelin’ alive
And now the sun’s comin’ up
I’m ridin’ with Lady Luck
Freeway cars and trucks
Stars beginnin’ to fade, and I lead the parade
Just a wishin’ I’d stayed a little longer
Lord, don’t you know the
feelin’s gettin’ stronger
Six in the mornin’, gave me no warnin’
I had to be on my way
Now the cars are all passin’ me,
Trucks are all flashin’ me
I’m headed home from your place
And now the sun’s comin’ up
I’m ridin’ with Lady Luck
Freeway cars and trucks
Stars beginnin’ to fade, and I lead the parade
Just a wishin’ I’d stayed a little longer
Lord, don’t you know, the
feelin’s gettin’ stronger
Well, my time went so quickly
I went lickety-splitly out to my old ’55
As I pulled away slowly, feelin’ so holy
God knows I was feelin’ alive
And now the sun’s comin’ up, yes it is
I’m ridin’ with Lady Luck
Freeway cars and trucks
Freeway cars and trucks …
LOL
LG, was Lady Luck the air freshener?
For the hundredth time Testa does not live in Monroe. He spends 1 day a week there. BTW that’s not against the law. How many people do you all know who own summer homes at the beach or winter homes at the ski slopes? Get it right for once.
Pray tell. Just where in our great city does El Squid live?
yahooy, you seem to know so much about Testa you should know the answer to your own question even if you don’t you would not believe me if I told you where.
I don’t know where El Squid lives. You do. Please tell us. I think you and your friend are full of baloney on this issue.
tc,
I just checked. Alleged Bridgeport resident Mario Testa or Testo does not seem to have a car registered in Bridgeport where he is, according to you, legally domiciled. Should I check the records in Monroe or do you have any further input on that?
Sal DiNardo doesn’t own a vehicle registered in Bridgeport either.
Tsk Tsk.
Are you sure you’re not a Testa-Spy on this Blog? Look out MJF.
If you are going to post it just get it right. Grown-ups understand you can be friends with people you disagree with politically. The problem on this blog is some people don’t understand that, especially people who don’t know the facts. Double agent, I think not.
So tc, then we can count on you to nominate Mary-Jane Foster at DTC?
I think we need a double Agent 73.
Maybe we need WD-40 to to loosen their lips. You raised an interesting question, is there a spoiler in our midst? What would tc gain by being behind MJF and secretly backing Mario’s boy? Interesting question for sure, divide the ranks in Bill Finch’s favor–politics as usual. Here is the big question for tc and Bob Walsh. Do you have the balls to stand up and nominate MJF from the floor in front of Mario and the DTC? Do you really have a spine and second her nomination? You both have big mouths, but do you have the balls to risk splitting the DTC in an open floor fight? MJF will get an opportunity to see who is really on her team. Ladies, put up or shut up. If tc or Bob Walsh do this they will earn my eternal devotion, if they fail to challenge Mario’s boy then they will expose themselves for all to see as the bitches of the machine. Before any war you must be sure of your allies. I hope Foster reads this and evaluates her “FRIENDS” before the DTC nominations. She would not be the first person to be betrayed by her alleged “Friends,” Jesus Christ readily comes to mind.
Ronin, it’s too bad you don’t know a damn thing about politics except name calling. As of today Mary-Jane does not want her name placed in nomination at the DTC nominating meeting. She already knows who on the DTC support her. She knows many of them need to work in the background because of their city jobs. This administration is well known for retribution.
I will tell you this one time and one time only!!!
If Mary-Jane wants her name placed in nomination I will gladly do it without a problem.
Hey Ronin, I got your ladies right here! You don’t know what a political war is, when you grow up I will explain it to you.
Ronin the one thing you should do is get your facts straight. To date I sponsored and PAID for a meet and greet MJF up here in the 138th. It was held at Vazzy’s and was well attended.
Ronin you are right, I have a big mouth. I also have a lot of balls. The difference between you and me is I post facts while you post bullshit. Find one of my posts where the facts are wrong, I dare you. I am sorry but have have no more time for a little person like you, have a nice day. I am off to Testo’s for coffee.
Was that a movie “The Spy Who Came for Coffee?”
Or the spy who came out of the cold?
Mario: tc, wanna me cream inna you coffee?
tc: Sure, if you have the time!
Great response??? You are a bona fide idiot.
And you, little man, have created a False Sense of Importance.
Hey Jim. Really, your Fairfield side is showing. Importance? Where did that come from. Caring about the city? Spending countless hours at B & A hearings. Researching facts? Trying to get this information out and that’s a sense of importance. What have you done lately? Wait, I’ll tell you. NOTHING. Last time I checked you and I were the same height so I guess we are both little men. One dumb and one trying to help. Have a nice day.
BTW I am glad Ronin has you as a spokesperson. Duh!!!
Ran into John Gomes today as he was walking into businesses on North Main. He has a free meet and greet at the Field rest tomorrow night to share his vision for OUR city. If this were other candidates it would be splattered all over here, why not John?
UnSub is obviously a Gomes supporter not paying attention. This was splattered in its entirety a few days ago.
So sorry LG, didn’t know. As for Gomes, after meeting him as he walked into a Main St. business I was getting a sandwich at, yes I am now a supporter.
City Hall needs to be sprayed with liberal amounts of Bitch B. Gone …
Or Finch B Gone.
The best part of being a Finch appointee is you get a free take-home car. Don’t have to worry about not paying your car taxes and getting booted. Don’t have to worry about gas, insurance or maintenance either. Ain’t life grand for the favored few?
city hall smoker // May 11, 2011 at 10:00 pm
To your posting
chs,
Did anyone get back with the number of take-home cars that are not supposed to be taken home … at least 50 in the administration side. Now we can add that to fire and police take home and count the tax dollars going down the drain.
What’s your guess on how many should be take home?
I have it down to fewer than 12.
Are you up for lunch at Bloodroot soon?
Councilman Anderson Ayala got booted and towed for non-payment of taxes, unregistered motor vehicle and no insurance for seven months … great job representing the city … oh wait he lives on the East Side and represents the West Side … another wonderful elected Democrat.
*** Bpt in the process of “not” losing another lawsuit (strip club developers), is thinking of making some areas in the West Side/West End, possible (redlight) do drop in districts! P&Z will be taking up this issue soon before the public has a chance to learn the details & react. Isn’t the economic development in Bpt moving right along towards the future? *** HERE WE GO! ***
Okay I have a responsibility to pay my taxes; if I put them off because of a poor economy I can understand paying interest and maybe a late fee.
I can even respect the idea of the boot to get my attention but both a boot (which immobilizes the vehicle) and tow (impoundment of the vehicle) together I just don’t get.
Why bother to boot my vehicle if I owe taxes in Bridgeport, just to tow it the next day? $95.00
Why give me an ALLEGED 48 hours to pay the taxes, when you tow it in 12-24 hours. $225.00
Hmmm, boot fees … towing … impound … storage fees?
Oh and lest we forget the 1/4-brain tow truck driver who was nice enough to yell and swear at my wife and offered to shoot my dog if she came near him, or the city worker who hung up on me when I called to ask where my vehicle was and what I had to do to get it back.
Odd that despite my best efforts I cannot locate a statute, town ordinance or law that gives the city the authority to impound my vehicle for taxes. Please if anyone knows how they get to do this, share the info I would love to read it.
I’m contacting the Attorney General, either one, boot OR seizure I can understand, both is excessive and an abuse of authority, legalized extortion from the City of Bridgeport.
Anyone interested in joining in let me know.