by Amanda Harnocz
Reporter
Tallmadge -- Approximately $72,000 in individual city taxes have not been paid to Tallmadge over the past few years, according to Finance Director Jill Stritch.
The city's finance department had an employee who took care of collecting the delinquent funds until she resigned last year, Stritch said.
Now without that employee available, Stritch is going to collect the funds in a more timely and cost-efficient order by using an outside company.
City Council voted unanimously April 24 to allocate the necessary funds to pay an outside company to collect the money.
"We don't have the expertise and computer logs to do this now," Stritch said.
Instead of replacing the employee, Stritch suggested the city use an outside company to help collect the fees.
The city is not seeking to replace the position in the finance department because it will cost more with a salary and benefits than to outsource the work, according to Mayor Christopher Grimm.
Many cities operate this way, by having an outside company collect their money, said Stritch.
The company would receive 24 percent of the total amount collected for the city, according to Stritch.
Since there is approximately $72,000 missing in city taxes, it will cost about $18,000 to have the job outsourced, according to Stritch.
"We owe it to the rest of the community to go out to get this money," said Grimm.
The amount is money that has been missing for a few years, according to Law Director Penny Taylor.
Because of the statute of limitations, the city has three years to collect the money after the tax was due or the return was filed -- whichever is later, Taylor said.
The city has six years to claim the money if an individual failed to report all of their income or failed to file a return, said Taylor.
The city has taken many people to court because of individual city taxes, according to Taylor. Additionally, she said, the city does prosecute by taking both civil and criminal action to receive the money.
E-mail: aharnocz@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-686-3911