CHESTERVILLE — A special town meeting last week to approve money for IRS penalties related to payroll taxes apparently wasn’t necessary because the payments had already been made, officials said.
“Anne Lambert informed us we had already paid the bill,” Selectman Matt Welch said Saturday. “When I said ‘no, we haven’t paid it,’ she showed the warrant from the previous week. Three of us didn’t know. We failed to do our job properly.
“Should the bill have been paid before the special meeting?” he asked. “Absolutely not. We dropped the ball, overstepped our bounds.”
The issue is on the agenda for the selectmen meeting Thursday, Sept. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Town Office.
At the Sept. 8 town meeting, voters approved using up to $3,500 from undesignated funds to pay the penalties, which Guy Iverson, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said at last week’s town meeting involved town payroll taxes. He said selectmen are looking into the situation.
“It may be paperwork or a personal error. We’re not sure which,” he said at the meeting.
In either case, he said he doesn’t believe it is a criminal situation.
On Tuesday, Iverson verified warrants showing a payment of $1,458.88 made Sept. 1 and two payments totaling $1,149.86 made April 7 to the IRS.
“I’m still not 100 percent sure what is going on,” Selectman Paul Caldwell said Friday. The amount of money appropriated is different than the amount paid.”
Lambert said Saturday an IRS payment had been made the previous week.
Iverson verified Tuesday that warrants showed a payment of $1,458.88 was made on Sept. 1 and two payments totaling $1,149.86 were made on April 7. He said he will suggest the board cross-reference bills with the warrant in future.
pharnden@sunmediagroup.net
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