Tri-State Towns Overwhelmed With Homeowners Making Early Tax Payments

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Around the New York area, homeowners were scrambling to pay property taxes before a new federal code takes effect next year.

"So yeah, I mean it's unfortunate, I don't feel like there's much I can do about it," Amid from Mineola said.

He waited on line for over an hour to prepay a portion of his taxes to the Town of Hempstead.

It took 1010 WINS' Andrew Falzon almost two minutes to walk from one end of the line to the other.

People like Martha got stuck waiting outside.

"Especially in the freezing cold, very little time to take care of all your paperwork. I had to scramble this morning, it's not fair," she said.

Lines were long, and the town has been overwhelmed by people who wanted to pay their taxes early. The town has taken 5,000 payments in three days. They say it's a 3,000 percent increase in tax payments.