TRUMBULL COUNTY State: Account for Delmont was no-no

The taxes were split because of a court order, the county auditor said.
By STEPHEN SIFF
and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A special account was established in the Trumbull County auditor's office so that Tony Delmont, the county's former maintenance department chief and union boss, could pay his delinquent taxes.
Such an arrangement, however, isn't allowed by the state, an official with the department of taxation said.
The Trumbull County auditor's office created the account as part of a divorce settlement between Delmont and his first wife, Lillian, in 1995. It was for the delinquent taxes Delmont owed on the home he and Lillian had shared.
The account removed $6,500 in delinquent taxes from the property, a home on Keifer Road in Liberty Township, and assigned them to Delmont personally.
"There is no provision in the law for splitting the delinquency from the property," said Gary Gudmundson, Ohio Department of Taxation communications director. "They cannot do that by law."
The only one
The current county treasurer, Christ Michelakis, and David Hines -- the county auditor, who previously was the county's treasurer -- both say Delmont's is the only case they can recall in which this has been done.
Delmont was president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees unit representing county workers in the early 1990s.
He left the union in early 1994 and entered management as head of the maintenance department. Prosecutors say Delmont, as maintenance director, bought hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of unneeded cleaning supplies in exchange for bribes from vendors.
One vendor, Barry Jacobson of Envirochemical Inc. in Bedford Heights, said in a sworn statement that Delmont said some of the bribes would be distributed to other county officials. No other county officials have been charged in this scheme.
Delmont has pleaded innocent to bribery, theft in office and money laundering. His second wife, Karen, has also pleaded innocent to a charge of money laundering. Prosecutors say she cashed checks on Delmont's behalf.
The Vindicator learned of the delinquent tax account last week.
A court order
Hines, who became auditor only days before approving the removal of delinquent taxes from Delmont's ex-wife's home -- said he did so only because domestic relations court ordered him.
"I had a court order," Hines said. "With a court order, if you don't do it, you go to jail."
The order was signed by domestic relations Judge Richard James.
However, the domestic relations magistrate who recommended the court order said he came up with the solution only after talking to a person he believed was Hines.
"I called someone at the auditor's office. I thought it was Dave Hines, but I guess it could have been someone else, and asked if there was a way this could be done so it doesn't get confused with the current taxes," said magistrate Anthony Natale.
Natale said that at the time, however, he was relying on the information from the auditor's office and was not aware that state law didn't allow such an arrangement.
"I haven't done this again, because the situation hasn't arisen. I'd consider it again. I'd do it for anyone in the same situation because it's a simple way for me to keep track that my order is being followed and the payments don't get mixed up with the current taxes."
Hines first said he couldn't remember, then denied that the conversation took place.
"Dave Hines never talked to anyone down there," Hines said. "If I did, I'd be glad to tell, but I didn't."
Hines said the action did not help Delmont.
"We got a court order, so we had to do it," he said. "The important thing is that the taxes got paid."
Taxes paid
Delmont paid the taxes the next year. If he had not, the auditor's office could have recombined the accounts, so the tax bill owed by Delmont could again be held as a lien against the property owned by his ex-wife, said chief deputy auditor Adrian Biviano.
"This was a billing mechanism, is all it was," he said.
The lawyer representing Lillian Delmont, Michael Georgiadis, said he "jumped up and down" protesting the idea, because he did not believe it was legal. He said he was worried that a higher authority would eventually reject the split and again leave Lillian Delmont holding the bag for the taxes.
"I just wanted the court to make Delmont pay," he said.
Property taxes nearly always follow the property. The county auditor's office says perhaps a dozen delinquent-only accounts are created by the auditor's office a year, but these are almost always for developers who are subdividing properties or for assessments, not for divorce cases.
"This is the only one I remember seeing," said Michelakis.
Bill Nicholas, the appraiser in the auditor's office who created the Delmont account with Hines' knowledge, said it was the first time he split delinquent taxes off a property because of a divorce. The 26-year county employee said he hasn't been ordered to do it again since. Hines says it is the only time he split a property this way in nine years as auditor.
When Delmont paid the bill a year later, it had grown to $6,679. Then seven months later, Auditor Hines refunded $717 of Delmont's tax bill.
Hines says he does not remember why Delmont got the money back, though employees in the auditor's office found a record of the transaction. The only explanation is the word bankrupt. Hines was unable to elaborate.