An Arnold City Council candidate is questioning why he has been disqualified in the 2013 race when two candidates in the 2011 election were delinquent with their personal property taxes and allowed to run.
Shaun Missey, the candidate, has had his name removed for not paying property taxes on a Dodge Grand Caravan he bought in October 2011. He is meeting with a lawyer this week for advice on whether to proceed with having his name placed back on the ballot.
See related article: Missey: "How Am I Supposed to Pay a Bill I Didn't Receive?"
In 2011, Bill Moritz and Randy Crisler were delinquent on paying their personal property taxes by the Jan. 17 candidate filing date. Moritz paid his tax on Jan. 19, and Crisler paid his bill on Feb. 22, according to Jefferson County Collector Beth Mahn.
In a Jan. 21, 2011 memo to City Clerk Diane Waller, City Attorney Bob Sweeney explained that the state law regarding the delinquency of personal property tax payments by candidates running for public office did not apply to municipal elections.
Citing another state statute, Sweeney said in the letter that a city council candidate could be disqualified if he/she was in arrears on city taxes or fees by the candidate filing date.
Based on that information, Patch asked Sweeney why Missey was disqualified from this year's election for not paying personal property taxes, while Moritz and Crisler weren't in 2011.
"We recently learned that a portion of the personal property tax, specifically the road and bridge line item, goes to the city," Sweeney said. "It is in effect a city tax Missey owed that we did not get."
Patch asked Sweeney if he was aware of the city receiving taxes from the road and bridge fund in 2011. Sweeney said, "At the time, I didn't know anything about city taxes coming from the road and bridge line item."
Patch asked Waller on Friday when the city began receiving a portion of personal property taxes. She said that would be a question for City Finance Director Deborah Lewis, who was out of the office on Friday.
Patch will contact Lewis on Monday and update this article with any new information.
BTW, if Bill Moritz was not eligible as a candidate in 2011 given the receipt of the Road and Bridge monies, does this invalidate every vote he has take since then, and require his removal from the Council now that Sweeney is "aware" of the ineligibility at the time? What has Sweeney done about it?
And a Thank you to jc penknife for letting us know that Sweeney isn't making enough off us alone, he works for another city as well. He makes more than the County's attorney by over approx. 1K.or more.
Plz excuse mistaken Submit hit. Site is not easy while using phones.