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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

MORE TAX WOES FOR HARTFORD- INTERNAL THEFT SCHEME DETAILED IN LABOR BOARD TESTIMONY

UPDATE*** Thursday, January 7, 2010 - the corrected full version of the Arbitration Award PDF document is below. The original scan had missing pages

On October 27, 2005 Vilma Rivera-Saez began working for the City of Hartford in the Tax Collector's Office. Everything appeared to progress smoothly as she worked her way up to supervising cashier in the Tax Office.

At some point prior to August of 2008, Ms. Rivera-Saez apparently began noticing cash shortages in the daily cash receipts. Sources familiar with these shortages told me that Ms. Rivera-Saez had noticed suspicious activities by another employee in the cashier's office, and allegedly reported these suspicions to, at the time, Acting Tax Collector and Deputy Finance Director Lydia Rosario.

This attempt at reporting the thefts and suspicious behavior to Lydia Rosario was apparently the start of a chain of events that resulted in the eventual termination of Vilma Rivera-Saez from the City of Hartford.

According to the State of Connecticut Department of Labor, Arbitration Award (full report attached below)numerous details raise more questions than answers.

Apparently the person that was allegedly suspected by Rivera-Saez and others in the Tax Collector's Office, according to the report and City Hall sources, was a fairly new employee in the office, Yordano Vazquez. Whether Rivera-Saez knew Yordano Vazquez's ties to acting Tax Colector Lydia Rosario before raising her suspicions is unknown, but according to the Arbitration Award report, Rosario and Vazquez were very tightly connected.

The report details that both Mr. Vazquez and Lydia Rosario, the Tax Department head at the time, were both congregants of the same church. If that wasn't enough, the report states that Mr. Vazquez "is engaged to be married to Ms. Rosario's niece".

During the course of the hearing, testimony was entered stating that the city was unable "to account for more than $12,000 in cash shortages from July through December 2007". Although the city never produced any information or evidence that showed Rivera-Saez was in any way responsible for the thefts, on August 4, 2008 she was terminated from her position.

The interesting part is that although Rivera-Saez, as well as others, were complaining to Acting Tax Collector Lydia Rosario about their suspicions, Vilma was the one branded a thief. The arbitration panel apparently didn't buy that accusation. They state that "Although the City implied that the grievant (Vilma Rivera-Saez)had "stolen" money through an improper deposit scheme, there was no evidence offered to show the grievant was, in fact, a thief".

The panel further questioned the degree of punishment handed out by Rosario and former Chief Operating Officer Lee Erdmann. The panel considered Rivera-Saez's "unblemished disciplinary record" and said it appeared that Rivera-Saez received the "ultimate level of discipline, termination" while the cashier, Yordano Vazquez, "was only given a slap on the wrist".

Although this whole report would seem to raise some serious "red flags" regarding the looseness of cash procedures and controls in the Tax Office, the way it was handled by the City Auditors and Administration is even more troubling.

In the summer of 2008, apparently before Vilma Rivera-Saez was terminated, the City Auditor Patrick Campbell began to investigate a series of cash shortages in the Tax Collector's Office. Campbell's investigation revealed a scheme in which checks were substituted for cash in several daily deposits made during the month of November 2007.

Campbell apparently found that "someone" was taking cash out of the daily receipts and replacing the cash with checks received in the mail. Campbell testified at the hearing regarding the scheme "It operated by, say for instance, cash of $1,000 was received, just for instance,during a particular daily transaction. What happened was that some of that cash,a check coming in from and outside source, in this case coming in through the mail, was taken and was placed in that batch of cash, swapped out from the batch of cash. They took $500.00 out of the cash, put the check in there so it would still equal $1000.00".

Although Campbell's investigation showed clear criminal activity on the part of individuals in the Tax Collector's Office, no mention was made during any testimony as to an investigation or any inquiry by the Hartford Police Department. HPD sources have confirmed that no request for an investigation was ever made by acting Tax Collector Rosario or Auditor Patrick Campbell nor was an investigation into over $12,000 in stolen cash ever conducted.

Although no evidence ever pointed to Vilma Rivera-Saez indicating she had any part in the thefts, the Union brief quoted in the report indicates she was singled out by acting Tax Collector Lydia Rosario who was "looking for a scapegoat" and "simply blamed the grievant( Rivera-Saez)rather than her niece's fiance".

One hearing officer,Attorney Marc S. Mandell, in his written opinion stated "The scheme was not terribly sophisticated or difficult to understand...the scheme collapsed as it inevitably had to, given how clumsy it was".

The scheme was clumsy, as was the City's response and subsequent investigation. Many questions are still unanswered, the real thief has not been identified or prosecuted and the money has not been recovered.

In the end, the Board decided that "the City of Hartford did not have just cause to terminate Vilma Rivera-Saez".

It seems like someone with a little common sense could have realized that right from the start.


The entire report on the Arbitration Award is below

Arbitration Award Vilma Rivera Saez

UPDATE- BEATING HARTFORD TAXES ... ARENA STYLE

If nothing else was learned from the Tiger Woods scandal by anyone in the public eye, it should be this, tell the truth up front and move on. Lies and untruths have a way of being proved false very easily.

After seeing the copy of a tax bill that Sean Arena faxed to the Courant. I decided to check and verify that the information was accurate. According to the Hartford Tax Collector's Office, it is not.

According to the Tax Collectors Office's records, the tax bill in question does not show Sean Arena anywhere on the account for James Holcomb. Printouts from the "Munis" system are below. (Munis is the City of Hartford's software program). Officials in the Tax Collector's Office stated unequivocally that Sean Arena was absolutely not listed on the Holcomb tax account.

Arena did cut a lucky break though courtesy of the "MUNIS" system. According to the Tax Collector's Office staff, widespread problems have occurred due to the outside vendor hired by the city for printing and mailing tax bills. Apparently numerous complaints have been received because tax bills are being addressed to the proper owners of the vehicle, and the Munis system for some reason is also adding the listed owner of the mailing address the bills are going to onto the bill also.

In the case of the bill faxed to the Courant, Jay Holcomb is the registered owner of the vehicle and since Arena is the owner of 79-C Morris Street, the MUNIS glitch also added him to the bill. A preliminary check with the Motor Vehicle Department also confirms that Sean Arena IS NOT LISTED on the registration for Holcomb's vehicle, CT Registration 879-WCT.

A call was made to Sean Arena for comment, as of this time he has not returned the call. If Arena is able to provide any documentation, such as a registration showing his name on it for the vehicle in question, I will gladly post that here.

Several people have called me in regards to what action the City will take to recover any revenue owed to the City of Hartford by the Arena's. I spoke with Hartford Tax Collector Marc Nelson and although he would not discuss a specific case or a specific individual on the record, he did outline the power given to him by Connecticut State law.

Nelson stated that under Connecticut law he is empowered to collect taxes on the Grand List. Apparently it is the responsibility of the Tax Assessor to investigate and place the untaxed vehicles onto the Grand List. At the time the Assessor places the vehicles on the Grand List, Nelson as the Tax Collector has 30 days to act and bill the vehicles accordingly. That would include any taxes, penalties, interest etc. The taxpayer would then have 30 days to pay the bill.

A word of advice to Sean Arena, tell the truth, reimburse the City for lost taxes , penalties and interest, register your vehicles in Hartford and move on.

PRINTOUT OF HOLCOMB'S TAX RECORDS

Holcomb Tax Records

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

HOW TO BEAT HARTFORD'S HIGH TAXES ... ARENA STYLE

While researching the City of Hartford's on-line tax database system, I found many names of people in "leadership" positions in Hartford who were delinquent on their motor vehicle taxes. I have spoke with several of them and the response was pretty much the same. They are all struggling to make ends meet and they are unable to afford Hartford's high taxes and ever increasing mill rate.

One of Hartford's "leaders" who did not show any past due motor vehicle taxes owed in Hartford was Democratic Town Committee Chairman Sean Arena. Oddly enough though, neither Sean Arena or his brother Ralph Arena showed any vehicles at all registered or taxed in Hartford. Ralph Arena is a member of the 4th District Town Committee.

Since I know they both drive vehicles, I was wondering how this was possible.

The next stop was a visit to the Connecticut Motor Vehicle Department to find out if the Arena's had vehicles in their names and if so, where were they taxed? Surprisingly, DMV records showed that both Sean and Ralph Arena had vehicles registered to them and taxed in the Town of New Canaan, Connecticut. By Connecticut law, the vehicles must be taxed in the town where they are "garaged", in this case, Hartford. Not in the town with the lowest tax rate.

Their bills were both sent to an address of 156 South Avenue in New Canaan, Connecticut. According to the Town of New Canaan, 156 South Avenue is a low income/senior housing project. Apparently the Arena's sister, Patricia Arena is a resident of this complex and the bills are sent to her unit.

You might ask why the Arena's would choose to register their cars at an address not their own? The answer is quite simple when you consider the financial gain to the Arena brothers. New Canaan's mill rate is 13 mills, Hartford's mill rate 68 mills. This difference has resulted in a savings of thousands of dollars for Sean and Ralph Arena, while fleecing the City of Hartford of thousands of dollars of much needed revenue.

It most likely would also result in substantial insurance savings for registering the cars outside of Hartford.

All of this information was obtained through public documents and public information from agencies that understand and respect the Freedom of Information Act. Thank you to the DMV and the Town of New Canaan.

More government as usual for Hartford it would appear. Hopefully the Tax Collector and the States Attorney's office will take note and look into this matter.

4:30PM UPDATE- In an effort to divert attention, Sean Arena has apparently offered to the Hartford Courant to produce a Hartford Tax bill showing that he and his partner, James Holcomb did pay taxes on a vehicle registered in Hartford. The problem is that the vehicle is his partners vehicle, not his Audi. A challenge to Sean, produce the tax bill for your vehicle that you drive, not your partners. You may have to go to New Canaan to get a copy of it.

TOWN OF NEW CANAAN TAX PRINTOUTS FOR SEAN AND RALPH ARENA
Arena's Tax Printouts

IS PRENZINA HOLLOWAY BEING SINGLED OUT?

Many of you may recall the questionable move by Hartford Democratic Registrar of Voters Olga Vazquez to hire Democratic operative Prenzina Holloway during this past November's election. As a result of that hiring and the subsequent coverage, it came to light that Holloway was delinquent on her motor vehicle taxes.

As a result, Hartford Tax Collector Marc Nelson seized Holloway's check for her services and applied it to her back taxes. I support that move, but it raises the question whether Holloway was the exception to that policy.


Apparently she was. City of Hartford Tax documents show that Connecticut State Marshal, Perez ally and Democratic operative Abe Giles is also deeper in debt to the City for back taxes than Holloway was. Giles continues to receive payments from the City for a moving and storage contract from the City of Hartford to handle civil eviction proceedings.

What was good to settle Holloway's delinquency should also apply to Giles back taxes.

Below is the most recent accounting for Giles's taxes on only one property. Other tax bills are also delinquent and the amount is higher than the $11,943.92 shown on this one bill.

GILES TAX BILL FOR 740 WINDSOR STREET

Giles Tax Bill

Friday, January 1, 2010

WE MAY ALREADY HAVE THE WINNER OF "HARTFORD'S DUMBEST CRIMINAL" FOR 2010

Manchester Police are today investigating the robbery of a Manchester gas station. An arrest was made within hours due to the great planning by the suspected robber.

The suspect apparently chose to leave his transportation needs to Yellow Cab, rather than have to drive himself. Understandably, robberies can prove to be stressful and allowing someone else to drive makes sense. The suspect apparently called Yellow Cab and requested to be picked up at 200 Mather Street in Hartford.

After being picked up, the suspect proceeded to Manchester, apparently committed the robbery, and then promptly returned to 200 Mather Street, by the same cab, to relax after a hard days work.

In the meantime, Manchester Police began investigating the robbery, and of course the Yellow Cab stood out as a getaway car. Yellow Cab was contacted for additional information. Shortly thereafter, the suspect once again called "666-6666" to serve his transportation needs. The only difference this time was that when he was picked up by Yellow Cab his driver was a Manchester PD detective.

With the assistance of Hartford Police, the "dumbest Hartford criminal of 2010" nominee was promptly taken into custody.

It is early in the year, but I think it might take some real stupidity to beat this one, but you never know.

Happy New Year.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

EDDIE PEREZ MAKES "TIME" MAGAZINE....AND NOT AS MAN OF THE YEAR




Once again Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez has made our city proud. Perez is profiled in Time Magazine under "2009 in Mugshots" along with his alleged co-conspirator Abe Giles. Both of their mugshots can be found by clicking here: