Nov
2
Weekly Recap
November 2, 2007 |
- The Iowa men’s basketball team opened their season with an unconvincing win over Simpson and lost their best player in the process. It could be a long season.
- The Stuart City Council election is next week. Also on the ballot is a measure for the library board and a measure for the former Catholic Church. I’m yes and yes if you were wondering.
- A tax issue with the school district was a hot topic this week. I’m pretty sure it is/was more or less a non-issue, but it’s always fun to see how people respond when they only know a piece of the story.
Have a good weekend everyone. Don’t forget, it’s National Peanut Butter Lovers month.
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wow
your yes, yes is cancelled with my no, no.
Your no and no is cancelled with my yes and yes.
So now we are ahead a yes, yes. lol I am voting yes, yes.
I’m a no, yes
Nate, CAN you vote? Are you registered to vote here?
Sorry about Iowa basketball — Good thing the Jayhawks are kicking ass in football AND basketball to help you through it.
Dumb. If you can’t comment in an intelligent way, why bother?
On another topic, much attention has been drawn to the IRS lein on the school. Has anyone been told that the taxes have been paid? The IRS was right to not comment on it to the Guthrie Center Times. I believe that the only thing hanging is the penalty(s) if any, for late payments. If this is the way we go about poisoning the atmosphere about the school, MS MORRISON, you have launched nothing but a stink bomb. I sincerely hope it lands in your living room. You deserve it. I can only hope that everyone who has had an IRS lein whether correctly or incorrectly placed upon them not be in your oh so holy and perfect path. You were seen posting it in a public place. Just what was your intention?
The thing that bothers me is the secrecy of the entire school board on things like this that the public should be well aware of. Instead, we see just parts of information that can be twisted like a pretzel in any way one wishes it to be to suit their own agenda. The school board is made up of representatives from all communities, not just Stuart, or Menlo, or Dexter, or Redfield. Is there no one in any of these communities who wants to speak out to clear up any questions about this? Do they just want it to gather momentum until we have yet another fiasco of inuendo and fingerpointing? That is why we go nowhere. I really don’t see any method to the madness here, does anybody else? One bad apple really can spoil the barrell. Sad.
I really don’t think MS Morrison started this. It was started when the taxes were not paid. It came out in the Guthrie Paper which is not in our school district and we all have a right to know. As far as whether they have been paid or not we should each ask our board representative. If the interest penalties were dropped that would be nice, but I do think the agent in charge of paying this should have to pay the fine that Iowa Law says they have to. That agent would be the school board secretary. If things like this are let to pass, just think what they could do in the future. I am not happy with the way our school board is not more involved with their job. I truly think they need to visit with Des Moines’ new board member and learn what it takes to be a real respresentative of their district.
No big deal that the board secretary didn’t know she had to pay bills on time. Wow wonder what other fees we are paying for late bills. Can’t wait for the audit. Are the results public?
Like was stated before on one of these blogs you would find a way to blame this on the east side of the district. Ms Morrison in particular. If it was a public document why shouldn’t it be posted. What law did she break? What gossip did she start. IF she did post it big deal. Get over it. You sure were’nt complaining when they posted the names in the paper whopaid for the bond buster. No now that was newsworthy wasn’t it? Get over it and quit trying to pass the blame you can’t have it both ways.
I completely agree with 8:45pm - You never want your own secrets released - but once the dam goes - watch out!
By the way - the bond buster was money well spent! At least there was proper accounting done and reported - on time, as well! What a wonderful secretary! Love ya! It would be nice if all were as prompt and proper!
When I pay my bills late, I pay the fee. Therefore I do not pay late. When it is a government entity such as the school district, we all pay the late fees. Try doing this at your own job and see how long you have a job.
IT’S CORY AND O’KEEFE AND YES FOR THE LIBRARY AND YES FOR RESTORE ALL SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!
Adel/Dallas County Local News
$122,525 tax lein filed against WCV
By: Amber Williams
11/03/2007
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The Notice of Federal Tax Lien in the amount of $122,525 against the West Central Valley Community School District was posted to the public Tuesday, Oct. 30, sending panic and finger-pointing throughout the communities involved.
The lien, filed through the Guthrie County Recorder’s Office, involves eight incidents where the WCV district failed to make timely payments to the Internal Revenue Services resulting in an accrual of debt to the federal government. Each incident involves tax form 941: Quarterly Employment Tax (including employee withholding, employee’s withheld Federal Insurance Contribution Act, social security tax and employer’s matching shares of FICA/SS tax).
Both WCV business manager and board secretary, Lisa Waddell and Superintendent Dr. Dave Arnold accept responsibility for the errors.
“It was my mistake,” Waddell admitted. “It’s due to my inexperience doing payroll. I’d never done payroll before I started this job. When I first started I didn’t know we had deadlines. I thought we just filed monthly. I’ve been working on this for quite a while to get it all resolved.”
Waddell, who has been with the district since July 2004, said most of the errors were made in her first year and a half of her employment. Although, all payments have been made to the IRS, Waddell was unaware of the strict deadlines by which those payments were required to be filed. She admitted there were several times she missed the deadlines by a couple of days.
The $122,525.24 lien on the district is a result of late fees, penalties and interest that has accrued since March 31, 2005, which was when the first violation occurred. Several others followed: June, September and December of 2005; March, June, December of 2006; and again in March 2007.
Waddell said she has 24 hours to make the group deposits for payroll, which she does electronically from the bank to the IRS. She said the payments usually do not get as high as $100,000, however in the last year’s payroll deposit exceeded $100,000 for the first time since she has been handling the books for the district, which changed the required deadline, which was the last straw for the IRS.
Waddell said the problem was initially brought to her attention in the fall of 2005, when the annual audit discovered the district was missing deadlines and accruing penalties. Administrators began discussion to remedy the situation in September 2006 after the next audit. Then, when the payroll deposit for last year exceeded its usual amount and again missed the IRS deadline, a lien was finally filed.
Although, she admits her mistakes, Waddell said this type of lien occurs more often than people realize and it is merely a way for the federal government to protect themselves. She said the IRS assured her that they are willing to forgive the lien and file abatement for the costs, a process that can take several weeks, and therefore, it should have no adverse affects to the WCV communities.
“Yes, it was a mistake, but it’s a correctable mistake,” she said. “I think it’s horrible that the community persecutes somebody for a mistake… It’s serious, but it’s not that the deposits weren’t made-they were… It’s being blown out of proportion.”
Arnold agrees, claiming that people in the district don’t understand the way tax liens and abatement processes work.
“It is very tragic for the students of our district to experience repeated mud-rakings, defamatory innuendoes and erroneous statements to the media,” he stated in an e-mail to WCV faculty as well as the Dallas County News. “Is it any wonder why we experience higher than normal open enrollment-out, low to non-existent housing and business developments in all of our communities? No, it really should not be a surprise to anyone with an ounce of common sense.”
Further, Arnold clarified that all taxes have in fact been paid and are current and he and Waddell are working on the formal request for abatement to the IRS.
“Usually, the IRS is more interested in helping businesses and schools improve their reported practices as opposed to assessing fines, and I believe from the agents comments, that is true in our case as well,” he said.
Although Waddell still plans to move and work in another school district later this month, she said this issue has nothing to do with those ambitions, and she hopes to remedy the problem before departure.
“If anything, I’m working harder to get this resolved before I leave,” she said.
I wonder if PCM is aware. It would be bad if she got them in the same mess she’s got WCV in.
Unfortunately, you have to use extreme caution in cases like this. When giving references, you run a very fine line of what you can and cannot say on an employee. Yes, it would be nice to warn them. Think of what we should’ve been warned about with both her and the superintendent.