TRUMBULL COUNTY City gets tough on tax evaders

The effort isn't simply to get money for hiring police, the tax administrator said.
WARREN -- More people are finding themselves in municipal court to answer for their failure to file or pay the city's 2 percent income tax.
City police are checking records, too, and are serving warrants on people for these tax cases.
The volume in the past six months has increased to the point that a new approach is being tried starting this month to relieve the load on the municipal judges: Magistrate Daniel Gerin will hear these tax cases each Wednesday afternoon.
It's all part of a plan drawn up three years ago by city Tax Administrator Thomas Gaffney and his staff, and set in motion in earnest late this year. "One of our goals was to go after delinquent accounts," he said.
745 cases
Margaret Scott, city clerk of courts, said her computer records show 534 cases have been filed since June 1 for failure to file a return, and 211 in the same period for failure to pay tax. A breakdown of how much money was received from payments in these 745 cases was not immediately available.
The tax office uses state files, utility bills and mailing addresses, among other approaches, to ferret out people who may be out of compliance. If they ignore a letter to make good, a criminal complaint is filed, summoning them to court. If violators don't show up for arraignment, a warrant is issued for them.
Police can find scofflaws when they make traffic stops or work on other cases. A daily review of Warren Police Department reports shows an increased number of warrants for failure to pay income tax.
"We are finding individuals that, for a myriad of excuses, claim they didn't know or didn't have to pay," said Law Director Greg Hicks. "All we're saying is, 'Folks, just pay our tax.'"
Also, the city makes sure that people who aren't paying income tax can't get their driver's license renewed or get new license tags.
"It gets their attention real quick," Gaffney said of the whole approach. "Boy, the compliance really jumps up."
The money goes into the city's general fund. One percent of the city's 2 percent income tax is earmarked specifically for the city's safety forces.
Police
It would be a mistake, however, to assume the city and police department are ramping up efforts to bring in tax delinquents simply so more police can be hired, Gaffney said.
"It would have been done, no matter what," he said of the enforcement.
Last week it was announced that the city has found an unexpected $200,000 windfall in income tax revenues it will use to hire additional police officers. The money will allow the city to begin the hiring process for three more officers. Three have already been hired this year of the 10 originally proposed.
According to the Ohio Public Expenditure Council, local income tax collections are showing the lowest growth rate in recent history, and possibly the lowest since municipal income taxes started in Ohio in 1946.
Collections for 2002, the latest figures available from the council, show a one-tenth of 1 percent increase statewide over the previous year.
Warren in 2002 had $18.7 million in collections, slightly more in 2003 and slightly less this year, Gaffney said.
"The economy is tough out there, and fewer people are working," he noted.