See Adrian's corrections in Comments
The City Council unanimously approved the appointment of David Marshall as tax collector Monday, filling a brief gap. Marshall was also approved as tax search officer.
The addition of a residency waiver to his appointment brought a small flurry of questions. The requirement to be a resident of Plainfield can be waived if there are no qualified candidates who reside in the city, and Councilman Cory Storch asked whether that was the case. Corporation Counsel David Minchello said to his knowledge, there was none. But Councilman Adrian Mapp said there were two other people qualified to do the job.
Storch said if that was true, he didn't see why a resident could not be appointed.
But Council President Bridget Rivers asked, "Is it the will of the administration to appoint this person?" and called for a vote.
The vote to amend the resolution was 4-3, with Rivers, William Reid, Tracey Brown and Vera Greaves voting "yes" and Storch, Mapp and Rebecca Williams voting "no." The vote to waive residency was 5-2, with Mapp and Williams dissenting. The council then unanimously approved the appointment of Marshall as tax collector and a second resolution to name him tax search officer.
Besides keeping track of revenues, the tax collector also has the important task of organizing tax lien sales to recoup money owed by delinquent payers. The office also organizes tax lien sales for money owed to the PMUA. Former tax collector Maria Glavan increased the
collection rate in 2008 to 96.08 and was urged to push it higher, but the economic downturn caused the rate to drop.
For a bit of history on the tax collector's office,
click here. Regarding residency, it used to be a hard and fast rule until 2006, when the city administrator and two of three department heads lived out of town. Since then, few cabinet members have lived in the city. The
mayor herself dodged the issue of a requirement for four years' residency before election when a judge declared that they did not have to be consecutive.
--Bernice
so again.. Bill Reid doesn't think people should be forced to pay what they owe, but that we need someone to force people to pay what they owe... wow... practically an Einstein in the works on our very own City Council..
ReplyDeleteHi Bernice:
ReplyDeleteCory's question and my statement about 2 other qualified individuals had to do with the Registrar's position, not the Tax Collector.
Regards,
Adrian
Hi Bernice:
ReplyDeleteI voted yes on the amendment to grant the waiver for the Tax Collector and yes on his appointment. What you summarized above was really about the Registrar and not the Tax Collector.
Regards,
Adrian
There are many qualified people who live in Plainfield who can do a magnificent job of organizing and bringing order to the administration. Three things inhibit this -
ReplyDelete1 - Working for this mayor
2 - Working for this mayor
3 - Working for this mayor