State probes missing excise taxes from Holyoke collector's office
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
By JEANETTE DeFORGE
jdeforge@repub.com
HOLYOKE - About $82,000 is missing from the Tax Collector's office, a department already plagued with accusations of mismanagement and sexual harassment.
The state inspector general's office is investigating to see if the problem is an accounting error or if the money has been stolen, said Mayor Michael J. Sullivan.
"I'm hoping against hope this is an accounting faux pas," Sullivan said. "That doesn't seem likely."
A spokesman for Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan declined comment saying it is against the office's policy to verify any investigations.
If the investigation shows evidence of theft, it will be turned over to state Attorney General Martha M. Coakley or Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett, Michael Sullivan said.
The money is believed to be missing from receipts from overdue vehicle excise taxes which are typically paid in person with cash or credit cards. The office took in about $770,000 last year in late payments, Sullivan said.
Most of the missing money was believed to have been paid between July and October but some is missing after that, he said.
Still, all tax accounts will be examined since financial practices in the office have been questioned by the state Department of Revenue, independent auditing company Melanson Heath & Co. and the inspector general, he said.
"It is hard to say it is from any one account because reconciliation accounting seems to be very fluid," he said.
Tax Collector Robert F. Kane said he was following a recommendation to improve financial safeguards when he found the missing money. He said he immediately reported it to Sullivan.
"I did an analysis of where they (the accounts) should be and it just didn't look right," Kane said.
Kane told Sullivan of the problem in late December. Sullivan said he immediately contacted auditors from Melanson Heath & Co. and asked them to examine the accounts. About 10 days later, the company reported they too found about $82,000 was missing.
Thursday he met with the Inspector General's office to ask them to investigate.
For years the treasurer's office and the tax collector's office has been criticized for having a lack of controls and other problems. The Inspector General's office and the Department of Revenue conducted separate financial management reviews in 2007 and 2008 and warned city officials the problems could make them vulnerable to theft.
Over the past six months, the tax collector's office has had other problems as well. The Deputy Tax Collector Jacquelynne M. Williams filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Sept. 25 alleging Kane had sexually harassed her.
Then she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city Dec. 31.
The city fired Williams a few days before Christmas for "nonattendance at work," Sullivan said. Her firing had nothing to do with the missing money, he said.
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