It’s the Case of the Missing Property Tax Payments in Barre.
The Worcester Telegram and Gazette reports that many residents who say they’ve paid their property taxes are being told that there’s no record of payment with the town.
The paper cites Ann Dennis, a resident of Barre for almost four decades who went to pay her most recent property tax bill at the tax collector’s office only to be told she owed back taxes for 2005, ’07, ’08, ’09 and ’10. She said she’d paid some of the taxes in cash but had no record of the payments, having shredded them. She added that she’s never received a late notice or had a lien placed on the property, and said she’s never been late on a tax payment.
Even David Tuttle, the chairman of the Finance Committee, was told he owed back taxes. Tuttle, though, has copies of canceled checks for the payments.
Lief Ericson, chair of the Board of Selectmen, said an investigation is ongoing into the tax collector’s office. Law enforcement hasn’t been contacted yet.
Additional help has been hired by the town to investigate the situation, but Ericson and Tuttle said tracking any cash payments was difficult because some deposits were made to Barre Savings Bank on an infrequent basis, the Telegram and Gazette said.
Most of the problems are similar to those of Dennis in that the tax payments were made in cash and those were not recorded by the tax collector. In every case, the property owner never received a late notice and never had a lien places against the property.
The tax collector’s office has been under fire for more than a year. In 2010, the Telegram and Gazette reports that the selectmen and the Finance Committee noted that incomplete or missing records in the tax collector’s office was making it difficult to have the state Department of Revenue certify key town accounts needed to set Barre’s budget.
