Ansonia Tax Investigation
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Eugene Driscoll | Oct 25, 2015 12:44 pm
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If you are late paying local property taxes, state law says you must be hit with interest penalties.
But that did not happen in Ansonia for at least 100 taxpayers in fiscal year 2011.
And now the city’s corporation counsel is recommending a special audit to determine whether the city lost out on even more money.
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‘Unearthed Memo: Ansonia Tax Office Reduced Interest For Some In 2011-2012’
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Ethan 193 Fry | Oct 13, 2015 6:32 pm
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Bridget Bostic resigned as Ansonia’s tax collector in August 2012 after a Valley Indy story detailed her practice of dispensing receipts to people who had not paid their car taxes.
Or so you were told.
Unbeknownst to the public, the tax collector was allowed to rescind her resignation two weeks after officials publicly announced she had quit.
She then left public service through an early retirement, as state prosecutors reviewed a “fact-finding” report prepared by Ansonia city lawyers.
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‘Turns Out Former Ansonia Tax Collector Didn’t Resign’
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Jodie Mozdzer Gil | Jul 14, 2013 9:58 am
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Leroy Thomas thought he said goodbye to Ansonia when he moved out of the city in 2001.
The dutiful 77-year-old said he made it a point to stop by the Ansonia tax office to see if he owed money. He got the green light and moved to South Carolina.
But then, in January 2013 — some 12 years after leaving — Thomas and his wife, Kathleen, got a car tax bill totaling almost $500 for a Dodge Neon that was previously registered in Ansonia. About $350 of the tax bill was in interest alone.
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‘The Ansonia Tax Office, A Year Later’
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Staff | May 24, 2013 8:23 am
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The Valley Independent Sentinel won 12 awards in the 2012 Excellence in Journalism contest hosted by the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Five of those were first place awards. The Valley Indy staff swept the video storytelling category, which had seven entries from four news outlets.
The Valley Indy competed in the “online circulation” category, which includes other web-based publications, including the Connecticut Mirror, AOL Patch, and Valley Indy affiliate The Branford Eagle, which took home 16 awards.
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‘Valley Indy Takes 12 Awards at CTSPJ Dinner’
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Eugene Driscoll | Sep 26, 2012 8:54 pm
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City officials said Monday they can’t obtain information from the Department of Motor Vehicles regarding questionable car tax waivers issued by former Ansonia Tax Collector Bridget Bostic.
Bostic resigned in August, after a Valley Indy story in July reported she had given car tax waivers to her mother, a city volunteer, and two city employees.
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‘DMV To Ansonia: We Don’t Have Your Car Tax Waiver Stats’
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Ethan 193 Fry | Sep 26, 2012 6:42 am
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Stan Gorzelany started work as Ansonia’s interim tax collector this month and immediately began an analysis of practices inside the city’s tax office, he told a roomful of Aldermen and other officials Monday.
He discovered a record of “poor to mediocre” collection rates on motor vehicle taxes that didn’t even crack 90 percent in the last two full years of data available.
And he learned that since the late 1990s, the city is owed more than $2 million in delinquent motor vehicle taxes — a number which represents nearly a full year’s worth of car taxes due to the city.
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‘Collecting Car Taxes Wasn’t A Priority In Ansonia’
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Eugene Driscoll | Sep 12, 2012 1:10 am
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Four Ansonia employees suspended since Sept. 4 are scheduled to return to work Wednesday, Mayor James Della Volpe said.
The employees — James Hooker, Kevin Cegelka, John Tomasella and Leslie Jamison — had all received car tax proof of payment receipts from Ansonia Tax Collector Bridget Bostic.
The receipt, stamped or signed by the tax collector, stated they had paid their car taxes, when they allegedly had not paid.
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‘Ansonia Employees Back At Work’
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Staff | Sep 11, 2012 5:58 pm
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Former Valley Indy reporter Jodie Mozdzer talks about her investigation into the Ansonia tax office and the Valley Indy talks about why it published a list from City Hall of taxpayers who owe money.
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‘Podcast: Ansonia Delinquent Tax Lists’
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Eugene Driscoll | Sep 11, 2012 2:43 pm
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Six weeks after a story raised questions about the practices of the Ansonia tax collector — and six months after elected officials first asked the question — the Board of Aldermen is receiving lists of delinquent taxpayers.
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‘Ansonia Aldermen Talk Tax Lists’
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Ethan Fry | Sep 6, 2012 11:34 pm
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State lawmakers have unanimously passed a bill that mandates a formal program to train, test and require the certification of tax collection personnel.
Oh, wait … sorry. That was 13 years ago.
The bill became law — but the standards it mentions have never been put into place.
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‘Can You Trust Your Tax Collector?’
