Ansonia got an unexpected tax boost this year — from unsuspecting Glastonbury residents.
Glastonbury residents paid about $6,400 in taxes to Ansonia in July. The problem: They were trying to pay their Glastonbury taxes.
How did it happen?
A return envelop snafu.
Ansonia and Glastonbury use the same billing company — Quality Data Service Inc. based in Waterbury — to mail out their tax bills, according to city Comptroller Joseph Miller. Somehow the company inserted Ansonia’s return payment envelopes into Glastonbury’s bills.
Miller briefed the Board of Aldermen on the problem Tuesday. After hearing the details, the aldermen approved refunding Glastonbury the $6,400.
Miller said that several Glastonbury residents mailed their checks in the return envelopes. The checks arrived in Ansonia’s Post Office box, and were picked up by Webster Bank officials, who process the payments and deposit the money directly into Ansonia’s accounts.
Webster Bank processes tax payments for both towns, so the Glastonbury residents were in their system as taxpayers.
But when Webster Bank sent its payment report to Ansonia the next day, the tax collector found several payments to accounts that weren’t in Ansonia’s system, Miller said.
“The following day we went to post the information Webster Bank sent to us,” Miller said. “But the account numbers were different.”
Miller said Glastonbury is aware of the problem, and expecting the refund. He had never seen a problem like this before, but said it was caught right away and will be rectified. Miller said the city has complained to Quality Data.
