Mayor James J. Fiorentini > Press Release

MAYOR FIORENTINI PURSUES $3 MILLION IN OWED FEES

Fulfilling a campaign promise to vigorously pursue overdue receivables owed to the City of Haverhill, Mayor James J. Fiorentini announced this morning that he will send to the City Council a tax amnesty program for their approval at Tuesday evening's Council meeting. This program is designed to recover nearly $3 million owed to the City in the form of taxes, fees, and fines. The City is owed over $1 million in motor vehicle excise taxes and nearly a half a million dollars in real estate and personal property taxes.

The Mayor's proposal will allow for a Seventy-six day period, beginning the first day in March, in which those individuals owing the City money will be given a waiver on a significant percentage of the interest on the total amount owed. By a law from the State Legislature last spring, the authority to enact such a program lies with the mayors and city councils of the municipalities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

This decision to aggressively pursue these taxes comes only days after Mayor Fiorentini announced savings of over $600,000 in the City budget that his consolidation and reorganization plans, which were implemented last week, have put towards the massive deficit. Fiorentini also announced last week the implementation of a spending and hiring freeze to address the deficit on a daily basis.

"These are all programs that I campaigned on last fall and I must keep my word to the Citizens of Haverhill and address the budget deficit on a daily basis. This is only the beginning. I will leave no stone unturned and I will seek to save and recover money wherever it is possible."