Greenburgh Insider: Receiver of Taxes Anne Povella retiring at end of month.

Anne deserves our thanks for her hard work and dedicated service.

Every April, September and January I'm surprised when I walk the halls of Greenburgh Town Hall watching people approach or leave the Greenburgh Tax Office. I would have assumed that most people would be angry. Who wants to pay taxes?  Surprise: Most people who pay their taxes in person at Greenburgh Town Hall have big smiles on their face. A reason: Anne Povella, the Receiver of Taxes who is retiring at the end of the month after serving the town as Receiver and before that as Deputy Receiver for two decades. Many people tend to smile after dealing with her office.  As Receiver of Taxes Anne has been  responsible for collecting annually about a HALF A BILLION DOLLARS in  County, Town, Fire districts and 10 School district taxes that are located in Greenburgh.  It is the largest municipal collection agency in Westchester. Anne,a resident of Elmsford,  never lost an election or re-election bid for town office. Among her accomplishments: Collecting between 98% and 99% of taxes owed to the town, schools, and fire districts even when times were tough --during the pandemic.  Her office has been involved in providing residents with convenient ways to pay their tax bills: in person, online checking account or by credit card. A major reason why the town has a Aaa bond rating (the highest possible) is because of our high tax collection rate. Thank you, Anne! The office has implemented initiatives to help taxpayers during difficult times. In 2020 the Governor and Town Board authorized late payments of town, county and fire district taxes due to the pandemic. Anne Povella was able to implement that directive efficiently. In December, 2017 former President Donald Trump and the Congress passed a new tax law which limits federal income tax annual deductions for local taxes to $10,000. Greenburgh successfully pushed for legislation to allow Greenburgh residents to prepay their 2018 tax bill in December, 2017 so they could get the deduction. Thousands of Greenburgh residents prepaid their taxes during the last week of December. Anne Povella and her team helped oversee a difficult collection process --with very few (if any) problems. We thank Anne for her dedicated service and hard work. And, wish Anne Povella good health and happiness in the years ahead.  On January 1, 2022 the new Receiver of Taxes will be Venita Howard of Hastings who currently serves as Deputy. We wish her great success in her new position. PAUL FEINER Greenburgh Town Supervisor