The IRS/healthcare form reporting debacle is costing the taxpayers of Fairfield County valuable tax dollars. And no one is sure, yet, when it will end.
The citizens of Fairfield County should trust that the professional employees who are paid good salaries are truly performing the duties of their jobs. Nevertheless, the start of the IRS healthcare problem – in 2017, when the current interim administrator had oversight of such matters as the county’s director of finance – appears to be the impetus for later tax year penalties and interest.
When the IRS letters arrived on the interim administrator’s desk in May and June of last year, they should have been recognized as constituting a true emergency and should have been dealt with on an emergency basis with transparent, professional guidance and the advice and help of council.
It was stated by our interim administrator at the last council meeting that the almost $1 million IRS taxes, penalties, and interest (of an accumulating $1.4 million) had to be paid immediately without taking the time to notify council and the public.
That’s nonsense.
It is council, not the interim administrator, who has the authority to determine where checks are to be written for such large amounts and whether to make those payments from the general fund or from another revenue source. Those are not the interim administrator’s decisions to make.
If the interim administrator thought checks had to be paid immediately to stop penalties and interest from increasing, that constituted an emergency meeting of council which is allowed under our county’s bylaws (7(a) when a situation needs immediate action.
It is council members who are to oversee the interim administrator and who are ultimately accountable for how the county is run, even when council may be given poor administrative guidance.
In an effort to properly handle the county financial emergency in regard to the IRS/health care forms, council should have been immediately notified of the problem and followed its bylaws’ guidelines for emergency meetings. That could have brought transparency, possibly greatly reduced penalties and interest payments, and a quicker and more financially feasible resolution to this issue months ago.
These are all things that should be at top of council’s mind in its current process of selecting a new administrator for the county.
Davis Anderson
Former Deputy County Administrator 1999 to 2019
