Hamilton County Reporter
Hancock County Prosecutor Brent Eaton released his findings Wednesday regarding the Indiana State Police’s investigation into the Hamilton County Treasurer’s Office.
Eaton
“After a thorough investigation, we found insufficient evidence to prove that Hamilton County Chief Deputy Treasurer Kim Good’s parents were improperly permitted to make late property tax payments without paying late fees as required by law for those transactions,” said Eaton. “We did find that if any waiver of any late fee was granted over the years to anyone that it would not be a crime under Indiana Law.”
The report goes on to state that recordkeeping in the Hamilton County Treasurer’s Office is insufficient to determine if late fees were waived for property tax payments that were received after the due date. Eaton did conclude that as a result of the incomplete recordkeeping, it is possible that a payment could be received after the deadline and still be processed as an on-time payment.
“Simply put, even if there were a violation of the law, there is no provision in Indiana criminal law that makes this specific conduct a crime. Therefore, no criminal action can be taken to rectify the matter or hold anyone criminally accountable under the law,” said Eaton. “I reviewed every resource I could to determine if this action was criminal, and given the evidence, the answer is no.”
Eaton was appointed as Special Prosecutor in April by Hamilton County Circuit Court Judge Paul Felix at the request of Hamilton County Prosecutor D. Lee Buckingham II. Eaton was tasked with reviewing the Indiana State Police’s investigation into the Treasurer’s Office to determine if there was criminal activity taking place in the management of the Hamilton County Treasurer’s Office.
Indiana Code 6-1.1-37-10 states that if property taxes are not completely paid on or before the due date, a penalty shall be added to the unpaid portion in the year of the initial delinquency. Under the law, Indiana Code 6-1.1-37-15 allows the Treasurer to waive, negotiate or settle penalties if a formal policy is presented to and approved by the Hamilton County Council. According to Eaton, there is no evidence that such policy for waiver exists, which means any waiver for Good’s parents or anyone else were unlawful.
According to the report, the scope of this investigation was limited to the processing of payments by the Treasurer’s Office, the records of those payments, any direct criminal act committed by any employee of the Treasurer’s office against any other employee of the Treasurer’s office during or because of employment with the Treasurer’s office, and truthfulness and honesty with investigators. It did not consider any other avenue of investigation of the office or personnel beyond those listed as it would have exceeded what was believed to be the jurisdictional scope allowed by the Judge’s order assigning a Special Prosecutor.
The report also concluded that there is no evidence that any employee of the Hamilton County Treasurer’s Office was intimidated, harassed, or otherwise the victim of a criminal act. There is insufficient evidence to make a finding of criminal acts committed by employees of the Treasurer’s Office during or because of their employment with the Treasurer’s Office. The failure to maintain the records of when payments were actually received is not a crime that can be prosecuted under the law as it exists in Indiana.
Stoesz: Lack of crime doesn’t mean lack of wrongdoing
The criminal investigation that focused on the Hamilton County Treasurer’s Office began after former county employee Susan Byer filed a lawsuit stating she was unjustly fired after making allegations of late property tax payment penalties not being charged to family members of Treasurer’s Office employees.
Stoesz
Byer is represented by Westfield-based attorney Tim Stoesz.
Stoesz issued the following statement on Wednesday after Special Prosecutor Brent Eaton released the findings in his investigation:
“Special Prosecutor Brent Eaton did a very good job. The report vindicates Susan’s allegation that the property tax payments of Kim Good’s parents were processed late, and not designated as late, allowing the late penalty to be waived. Just because a crime wasn’t committed doesn’t mean wrongdoing did not happen. We look forward to reading the Indiana State Police Investigation Report.”
Recordkeeping in the Hamilton County Treasurer’s Office is insufficient to determine if late fees were waived for property tax payments that were received after the due date
This story isn’t over
If it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, it is a duck.
How many of you reading this comment have ever done business with Hamilton County Treasurers Office that was not time and date stamped?
When the prosecutor stated that record keeping wasn’t sufficient, I presume he meant for his purposes, as he never stated that it wasn’t compliant. In fact, record keeping is compliant with the law and confirmed with yearly audits by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. The Treasurer’s office holds a spotless record with not a single write up from the state in decades. Even the disgruntled clerks complained in the April 4th IndyStar about “unreasonable demands for promptness and accuracy.”
If you would like to see a change in record keeping requirements, might I suggest contacting the state legislature. Then, while you are at it, appeal to the county council to fund the resources needed to collect, store and access over a million payment envelopes over the 10 year period other records are kept. As it stands, every Treasurer is only required to maintain proof of late payments. No one ever has asked to prove that their payment was on time. Ever.