There is a new rule in the Ansonia tax office. It is in print, marked item number one — even underlined.
No one, for any reason, will receive a motor vehicle clearance from the tax office without having first paid the delinquent car taxes they owe.
The policy is one of many reforms listed in a report on the city’s tax office submitted in December by Stanley J. Gorzelany. It was formally accepted by the Ansonia Board of Aldermen at a meeting Tuesday (Jan. 8).
Gorzelany was hired as the city’s interim tax collector after Bridget Bostic resigned the post in August.
Bostic resigned after a Valley Indy investigation showed she had improperly issued motor vehicle clearances to people who had not paid their car taxes.
The clearance was a receipt, essentially, stating that back car taxes had been paid. The action gave the recipients a chance to circumvent state law and register their motor vehicles without paying the back taxes they owed.
The people receiving the clearance included Bostic’s mother and three people who were either City of Ansonia employees or volunteers on local boards or commissions.
A city internal investigation revealed the names of two other city employees who improperly received clearances. That internal report was handed over to prosecutors to determine whether a crime had taken place.
The Valley Indy story also showed the tax office hadn’t sent a list of car tax delinquents to the Department of Motor Vehicles in two years.
No charges were filed, but the investigation was ongoing as of Dec. 11, according to a statement by Mayor James Della Volpe at last month’s Ansonia Aldermen meeting.
Della Volpe’s comments from Dec. 11 are posted below. Article continues after the video.
Gorzelany’s report was compiled to get the city’s tax office back on track.
As Ansonia legislators accepted it Tuesday, Gene Sharkey, president of the Board of Aldermen, said many of the recommendations in the report have been put into practice.
An important reform — overdue car tax bills have to be paid in full before a receipt is given. Partial payments are not accepted.
“He implemented a lot of good things,” Sharkey said. “A lot of what he had been doing has been implemented and it is working.”
A copy of Gorzelany’s report is posted below. Article continues after the document.
Ans Tax Report by ValleyIndyDotOrg
While the initial Valley Indy investigation also showed that 30 employees or city officials owed about $50,000 on all types of taxes as of June 28, the city’s inability to collect delinquent car taxes was uncanny, according to Gorzelany’s report.
Take September 2012. Though the city’s real estate tax levy was about 10 times larger than the motor vehicle levy, money owed on car taxes exceeded real estate delinquencies, according to the report.
Taxes are a city’s revenue — and Ansonia needs its money. Last year Ansonia schoolteachers were laid off due to budget woes.
Now the city is tracking down delinquent car taxes.
Gorzelany’s report states that on Sept. 11, the city reported 20,342 delinquent motor vehicle accounts going back 15 years to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Then, in October, the city sent out delinquent notices to people owing car taxes from 2010 and 2011.
The result — a 97 percent year-to-year increase in motor vehicle taxes collected comparing October 2011 to October 2012.
The city also hired a collection agency to go after people who owe back car taxes between 1997 and 2009.
Della Volpe Tuesday reported the collection agency this week submitted a check for $7,300 in delinquent car taxes.
“Through regular reporting of delinquencies to the Department of Motor Vehicles, taxpayers will come to the realization that they will no longer be able to maintain active motor vehicle registrations without paying their taxes,” Gorzelany’s report concludes.
Gorzelany has moved on.
Tammy Blackwell, who was Bostic’s assistant, was recently appointed the new Ansonia tax collector.
The city’s internal investigation revealed that tax office staff — Bostic and Blackwell — were processing their own payments or payments of family members.
That practice was officially barred in August, according to a statement made at the time by the mayor.
Alderman Scott Nihill Tuesday requested that Blackwell start attending some Aldermen meetings if elected officials have questions.
The city union employees who received improper car tax clearances from the Ansonia tax office were placed on administrative leave for a week in September pending a union hearing.
However, it was determined the union employees did not violate the terms of their union contract with the city, according to Della Volpe’s statement last month.
Finally, a Charter Revision Commission launched recently will be examining the city’s charter — that is, the blueprint for how the government works — to see if changes are needed as it pertains to the city’s tax office, Alderman John Marini said Tuesday.
The Ansonia Charter Revision Commission meets on the fourth Thursday of every month in City Hall at 7:15 p.m.
The motor vehicle release documents that were the origin of the Ansonia tax office’s woes are now kept under lock and key when City Hall isn’t open for business.
