SUFFOLK, Va. — Treasurer Ron Williams is proposing changes to how taxes and fees are collected in the city of Suffolk, including a shift in the car tax due date.
Williams has been the Treasurer for 43 years and wants to move the personal property tax due date from December 5 to June 5.
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"Every year for 43 years, every Christmas party that I've gone to, I've had someone say to me, ‘Yeah, I just wrote you a check.’ Well, it's at the holidays and that is a difficult time for people anyway," he said.
This change would align Suffolk with neighboring cities, which have already moved their due dates.
"As I’ve worked the line of the due date - December 5 - there were people who would move here from other localities and say, ‘Why don’t we have our taxes due in June?’ And I said, 'We're working on it,'" he said. "It would make quality of life for Suffolk citizens better to move it to June for a lot of those reasons."
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Williams also wants the city council to eliminate the vehicle license fee and provide car tax relief for the elderly and disabled.
"This is the group that is the least able to take care of themselves, and so any relief that we can give them, we should give them," he said.
Williams hopes the city council will address these recommendations during the budgeting process this year.
