Back Withholding
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Back Withholding |
Four Years of Taxes SC Online Content Editor The Town of Fenwick Island has paid four years' worth of back withholding taxes it owed the state of Delaware, according to the town's auditor. The town found out about the missing taxes as Sombar & Associates, the town's auditing firm, completed audits of the town's books that had not been done for four years. While some of the town council members were notified of the problem in early December, two members, Vicki Carmean and Theo Brans, were not told until a month later. David Sullivan, deputy director of the state Division of Revenue, would not release any details of the withholding payment. Sullivan said revenue division employees are forbidden by Delaware law, specifically Del. Code Title 30, Chapter 3, from disclosing this information. Town treasurer Richard Griffin did not return a phone call regarding the withholding taxes. Thomas Sombar, president of Sombar & Associates, said, "I really do think the town acted very expeditiously when the state withholding problem was discovered." He said, however, that the town's "first reaction was denial," and that there was "some lost motion" when the problem was first discovered. Carmean filed a Freedom of Information Act complaint on Jan. 10 regarding the withholding tax and other issues in which she felt the council had acted in a less-than-open manner. Audits of the town's books for the years 1999-2002 are now more than halfway completed, according to Sombar. He will attend the council's Friday, Jan. 31 regular meeting to go over the audits that are completed at that time. The 1999 and 2000 audits are complete, and Sombar said the audit for 2001 is "just about done." Sombar said he hopes to have the 2002 audit completed by March 1. Members of the Fenwick Island Concerned Citizens wrote a letter last week to Town Council President Peg Baunchalk, expressing their concern that the agenda for the Jan. 31 meeting did not indicate a presentation from the auditor. Sombar said he had told the council from the outset that he would be willing to attend a public meeting to review the audits. He said he spoke with council Vice President Harry Haon last week and Haon asked Sombar to attend the Jan. 31 meeting. Although Sombar said, "obviously, there will be questions," regarding the missing audits, he expected to answer questions from the council and not necessarily the public. Sombar said he believes it is important, however, for the public to receive information on the missing audits. "I feel the public really needs to know," whatever the audits will show about the town's finances for the past four years, he said. "There were some problems in the past," Sombar said. But he said he believes "things are finally on the right track now." In addition to the town's failure to file employee's state withholding taxes, the town has also been under fire for other financial issues, including allegations by Police Chief George Dickerson that the town misused federal COPS grant money. The town also raised property taxes by 10 percent this year with no public input in the budget process. Local News Index | News Index |
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