Minutes 03/14/1933 - Laserfiche WebLink

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11 "AN ORDINANOE DEFINING ARDENT SPIRITS AND DRUNKENNESS, PROHIBITING THE DRINKING OF ARDENT SPIRITS IN PUBLIa PLACES, DRUNKENNESS, AND THE OPERA- TION OF AUTOMOBILES, GARB, TP~aKS, MOTOROYGLES, ENGINES, AND TRAINS, WHILE INTOXIGATED~ PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR AND TAXING COSTS UPON aONVIOTION. On motion of Mr. Ayes - B~ooks, Nays. - None. Moore, the ordinance .was adopted, and by the following vote: Fox, Hutchins, Mayo, Moore, Oast, Ogg - ?. The following communication from the City Manager, laid on the table until this meeting, was taken up and read: "In checking the Oity Collector's office, preparatory to the starting of ~r. AcE. Parker as Oity Ootlector, the 0ity Auditor finds, according to the records in the Collector, s office, that several taxpayers were permitted to pay their 1932 taxes after December 7th, 1932 without paying the interest and oenalty prescribed by law on taxes that are not paid by December 1st. me also find that severe! taxpayers paid some of their 1931 taxes during the year 1932, some as late as November, 1932, without paying the penalty and interest prescribed by law for not paying the taxes when due. A check of the records in the Collector's office shows that the 1932 collections included collections made on 19~1 taxes in the amount of $3,217.O9 on which no penalties or interest were aoparently collected. The-penalty and interest on these taxes would amount to approximately $~38.00.~ The check further shows that from December 7th,.l~32 through January 2~th, 1933 that 1932 taxes were collected in the amount of $16,16t.86 wzthout the penalty and interest due thereon bein~ collected. The penalty on these taxes would amount to approximate- ly $850.00. It is possible that some of the COllections from December ?th, 1932 through Dec- ember 15th, 1932 included some payments which were in the Oollector, s office prior to that time but which they were unable to record when received due-to the large volume of work. About December 15th, Miss Huteheson informed me that she had cleared all checks that .had been re- celived on and prior to December 1st. Therefore, all collections after December 15th should ha~e included the penalties and interest due. We were unable to check the coIlections made during the years 1930 and t931 to determine if any collections were made during these years without collecting the penalty and in~erest due, for the reason that the records or duplicate tax tickets on which information is shown as to penalty and interest collected, were burned on instructions of the City Collec- tor, Miss Edna E. Hutc~heson. Mr. X.D. Murden, an employee of this office, advised me that he supervised the b-~ning of these records about January 1st, 1933, on instructions from Miss Hut- chosen. I am instructing the 0ity Oollector in writing, that effective at once, no records from the Oolleotor's office are to be 'destroyed without my written authority and that all nen- alties and interest due on taxes according to law, are-to be Collected. I asked Miss Hutc~eson shO~tl~ after O~tcber 1st, 193~, to see that e~eryone was treated fairly and given the s~me sidera~on. The duplicate tax tmckets, or record of collections made during 1932 and J~nuary, ~933, on which penalties and interest were apparently not collected,~ are availabie and I r~com- mend that these tickets be turned over to the City Attorney with instructions that the penalty an~ interest due be collected, if collectible according to law." On motion, the privilege of the. floor was granted to Miss Hutcheson and to her attorney, Captain J.W. Happer. Miss Hutcheson read the following statement and aaptain H~oper spoke in regard to same~ "Hon. City 0ouncil, Gentlemen: Allow me to express my gratitude to this body for the privilege of appearing be- fore youtonight in public session. Being an appe.intee of the City Council, the Oollector is a creature of that body and accountable ~o it. Being a~.pubiic official, the Collector i's a representative of the ci~ tizens of Portsmouth and accountable to them. Certain charges have been brought against me by the present Oity .Manager- charges which are misleading to an uninformed public to say the least. I am here to answer these charges. To say.that I have done nothing during my term of office as a public official of which I ~m ~sh~med; nothing for whi0h I can not give a rea- Son. Directly following my appointment as City Oollector, I took the oath of office, pledging tc carry out the duties of that Office to the best of my ability. This I have done. Mr. Anderson in his letter to you alleges that I have accepted-payment of taxes after the all eted ~me, without the penalty prescribed by Oity Ordinance. This charge I do not deny. But I~ wish to make this statement. That never at any time has any taxpayer been re- lieved of any legal penalty without what in my judgment was a sufficient reason for the relief. May I give you some of them here. 0ity taxes are due Nov. 1st of each year, penalty of 5% is added Dee. 1st and in- terest at the rate of ~ begins Jan. 1st. At the time the new Oity maps were made, delinquent taxes were found on ma~y otherwise ~aid~up accounts for back years in other names. The Ool- le~te~ was authorized to relieve penalty and interest within her judgment. The Auditor will tell you that every aouncil in his experience has permitted a Oollector to make reasonable penalty reliefs within his own discretion. I understand that Mr. Anderson has chosen as his material against me before you, stubs having dates i~om Dec. ?th to Jan. 24th. ~Some of you gentlemen a re familiar with the