While the need to add housing across the state dominated Gov. Chis Sununu’s speeches during his four terms in office, little was said about those who lost their homes during his administration.

During the pandemic, 240 homeowners had their properties taken for unpaid taxes in 75 towns and cities despite an executive order from the governor’s office telling municipalities to temporarily stop the practice while much of the state was shut down. 

The illegal action – which transfers ownership of a property to a municipality for three years of unpaid taxes – garnered no consequence.  The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, which is responsible for enforcing executive order violations, declined to prosecute these unlawful takings, state records obtained by the Monitor show. Other executive orders – like businesses flouting mask mandates – drew warnings and even fines. 

Despite the directive not to do so, many municipalities continued to take homes as normal, either because they were unaware of the temporary moratorium or because they received legal advice that contradicted the governor’s edict.

Prior to issuing an emergency order, the Attorney General’s Office consulted with the New Hampshire Municipal Association and New Hampshire Tax Collection Association on balancing the concerns of homeowners struggling to pay their taxes during the pandemic with the need for municipalities to continue to collect revenue, records show. 

For every day a tax bill is late, interest on the overdue payment grows. At first, overdue debt accrues 8 percent interest. After a year, when a lien is placed on a house, this rate increases to 14 percent per year.

Interest is the one hurdle many homeowners have turned to when talking about barriers to paying down overdue bills. In some cases, fees and fines can surpass the initial amount owed. Municipalities have the option to forgive these interest fees but rarely do so.  The pandemic raised the issue more acutely, especially for those on a fixed income.

During the pandemic, the former Mayor of Rochester Caroline McCarley contacted the state Department of Justice, proposing all interest for unpaid taxes be waived for three months after the first tax bills were issued in 2020. At the same time, she asked the state to use federal COVID relief money to create a fund for communities to borrow from, at no interest, to offset lost revenue due to unpaid tax bills, records show. 

Shortly after the governor’s office issued an executive order that partly addressed her suggestion. Emergency Order #25 – issued on March 13, 2020 – enacted a moratorium on the tax deed process and allowed municipalities to grant a blanket abatement of all interest owed on overdue bills.

The order was intended to be in place throughout the state of emergency, which lasted for 15 months until June 2021. 

Yet, four months later the New Hampshire Municipal Association sent notice to its members and posted publicly that municipalities could resume the tax deed process and take ownership of properties beginning on July 2, 2020. 

No guidance from the state was provided at the time. 

At the time, the state issued Emergency Order 51, which lifted orders that provided a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. The municipal association referenced these orders in their guidance to resume tax deeds, however, none of the orders explicitly draw a connection to each other. 

In a series of email exchanges, attornies from the state provided clarification on the basis of the order, but never specified when the order would be lifted, nor did they provide any indication to the municipal association that deeds could resume in July, records obtained through a Right-to-Know request show. 

Michael Garrity, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, declined interview requests from the Monitor and said the office had no further comment on these violations, or the decision-making process. 

McCarley’s suggestion for municipalities to borrow money from the state stemmed from concerns that some homeowners might skip paying their property taxes during the pandemic. State funding would have offset lost revenue for communities short on cash. 

“I am unfamiliar with the statutes and mechanisms that may be involved with these concerns,” Assistant Attorney General Chong Yen wrote in emails to the municipal association. “If it is determined an emergency order is necessary if any of you feel comfortable creating the initial draft for this group to discuss, that would be immensely helpful.” 

Emergency Order 25 went into effect four days after this email exchange. At his daily pandemic press conference, Sununu highlighted the interest forgiveness but did not mention the moratorium on taking homes. 

“I encourage all the municipalities to utilize this authority where they are able to provide that relief to their citizens,” he said during the press conference. 

The order brought on a series of questions from the municipal association – including whether or not prior interest could be forgiven, the anticipated duration of the state emergency, how much interest in total could be abated and if the tax lien process was also suspended during this time. 

The records request did not reveal a response to these questions from the state.

Later that month, the association released another clarification that stated the emergency order allows municipalities to grant a blanket abatement on interest charged on all property taxes prior to the pandemic and that individual applications for relief were not required. 

“This authority to grant blanket abatements permits the select board or assessor to set conditions, time limits and amounts on the interest that can be waived, provided those conditions are uniform and all property taxpayers are treated on equal terms,” the notice reads. 

The notice also states that “no tax deeds can be issued by New Hampshire Tax Collectors during the State of Emergency.” 

The governor’s office declined to answer questions about the impetus for the order or its enforcement. While the attorney General’s Office produced public records regarding the matter, the office declined to comment and rejected interview requests with attorney Yen. 

Editor’s note: The interest rate charged by towns for overdue taxes is 8 percent per year and then rises to 14 percent. The rate of interest in year one was incorrect in a story in Saturday’s Monitor.