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Where Are Your Tax Bills??
No one is
rushing city hall with pitchforks and shotguns looking to
find out where their property tax bills are. Who could
blame them? But the city’s tax bills were due over a
month ago yet have not been mailed out to Lawrence
Property owners. When city councilors were asked by Rumbo
why the tax bills were not sent out yet, none of the
Councilors we talked to knew the real reason why. So, we
called budget and finance director Carl Prussing.
Prussing said that the consultant group in charge of
putting the budget together was late in submitting our
city budget to the State Department of Revenue. Prussing
said, because the City Council changed the tax rate at
the last minute, RRC was not sure if they would be
submitting the right information with the right forms to
the DOR (Department of Revenue). “We have submitted
the right paperwork now, and the tax bills should be
going out very, very, soon.”
Well, not according to the Department of Revenue.
According to DOR, the Mayor was supposed to submit our
city budget by December 31, 1999. Mayor Dowling did not
submit anything to the state until February 11, 2000, in
violation of the law. The City Council had changed the
tax rate almost four weeks prior which would not explain
why the budget went in so late. Ironically, the city
budget was submitted one day after the Mae Gaskins
meeting, where Mayor Dowling had planned to have Gaskins
fired and long gone by then. The real reason for the
delay is because another consulting firm, called Billie
and Sullivan, did not prepare the “recapitulation
sheet” and send it to the DOR with the city budget.
The DOR representative we spoke with said that this
“recap. sheet” is needed to itemize and explain
certain city expenses such as; “excise taxes on city
vehicles, consultants, and out of state travel
expenses.” The recap sheet is needed so that DOR can
reconcile the itemized city expenses to make sure the
budget is balanced. Once that happens, the budget is sent
to the Governor’s office for his signature. You get
your tax bill after he signs it.
As of the printing of this edition of Rumbo, Tuesday
February 15, 2000, the Department of Revenue says
emphatically, that no tax bills will go out until the
City of Lawrence submits the required
“recapitulation sheets” to explain all the
city’s expenses. Freshman City Councilors were
shocked to find out that we have consultant firms working
on the city budget when we have city employees paid to do
just that. In politics that is called duplication of
services. Consultants have quickly become an issue in the
city of Lawrence as Mayor Dowling is trying to have
Superintendent of Schools, Mae Gaskins fired because the
Mayor says Gaskins was engaged in giving improper
consultant contracts to her friends.
Mayor Dowling did change the tax rate at the last minute
giving the residents a tax break after property
assessments were raised almost double the amount of the
tax break approved by the City Council. Rumbo is
wondering how the Mayor can justify firing Mae Gaskins
when the state is waiting for our “recapitulation
sheets” to finish balancing our city budget which is
prepared by two different consulting firms, and a mass of
city employees hired by the Mayor. Rumbo is scouring the
Campaign finance reports of Mayor Dowling, members of the
council, and School Committee to see if she or any of her
supporters have accepted any contributions from
executives or owners at RRC or Billie and Sullivan
consulting firms. Look out next week for what might be
another eye opening special edition.
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