PUTNEY — As Putney finally works toward resolving its dog license issue [“Audit finds three years of dog license payments,” Town & Village, Jan. 28], the Treasurer, Anita Coomes, finds herself in the spotlight again.
Coomes's department is delinquent in filing some of its state and federal tax forms, and the town could face hefty penalties as a result.
At the June 17 regular Selectboard meeting, Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard reported she was recently in Coomes's office on unrelated business and “found a letter from the IRS,” dated January, 2015, informing Putney its W-2 forms were never filed.
The letter mentioned a “significant penalty” based on a percentage of total payroll, Stoddard said.
According to Stoddard's recounting of the conversation she had with Coomes about the issue, Coomes said she had filed the forms through the accounting software, but “it must not have gone through.” Coomes said she cannot locate the confirmation letter associated with the transaction.
Board member Josh Laughlin asked if the town had paid the payroll taxes to the IRS, and if these penalties resulted only from clerical omission. Stoddard said yes.
Coomes told Stoddard she visited the Brattleboro IRS office, and is working with the agent to abate the penalties and interest.
The Treasurer is also in trouble with the state. After reconciliation of the town's accounts, it was discovered the monthly payroll tax checks sent to the Vermont Department of Labor had not cleared.
Then, Stoddard received notice from the state they had not paid their payroll taxes.
She explained the likely cause, and, like the other issues plaguing the Treasurer, the answer is software.
Beginning this year, Stoddard said, the state switched from issuing payment booklets to employers to an online payment system. She said Coomes had filed online “for one month,” and from then on, the Treasurer printed the form and mailed a check to the state.
Coomes “did not realize the checks weren't clearing” until the reconciliation, Stoddard said.
Laughlin agreed “the transition from 'hard copy everything' to electronic is not simple,” and it is crucial for the town to identify “weaknesses as they come up” and deal with them.
“How much does the town owe in penalties?” he asked Stoddard.
“$500 to the state, and $47,402.34 to the IRS,” she replied.
Stoddard told the board she has seen this situation before through her work with other towns, and in her experience, “as long as you're communicating with [the IRS] and trying to fix it, and you write a passionate letter of what happened,” the IRS will generally “work with you” to reduce penalties and interest.
Coomes “really wants to straighten it out,” Stoddard said, adding “she wasn't hiding anything.”
“It could happen to anyone trying to upload documents,” she said, noting “in [Coomes] taking care of it in a timely fashion, that makes the difference."
Still, Laughlin said he reached out to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VCLT) to gather information about the Selectboard's role in this issue, if any.
He said the VCLT stressed “transparency.”
He also said, “I'm not into punishing Anita,” and even if the Board wanted to, it could not do so, he said. “She's an elected official, in office until Town Meeting 2017,” Laughlin added.
“We wouldn't want to change that unless we feel this is a problem that's going to continue,” he said, noting “if this continues to happen, we're asking for trouble we're not able to back out of."
“If anything else like this comes up,” Laughlin said, “I would be hard-pressed not to issue a statement of no-confidence."
In addition to concerns about the current fines, Stoddard said she is also worried about whether the W-2 forms from 2012 through 2014 were filed with the IRS. She said she will check in with Coomes.
Stoddard told the Board she had asked Coomes to attend the June 17 meeting to discuss the “outstanding items,” but Coomes declined the invitation.
“I don't know, and Anita's not here, what exactly caused all of this,” Laughlin said, adding, “I think we can assume Anita is doing her best to straighten this out, and we hope it can get straightened out as best as possible.”