This Is Not Why They Call the Town “Loveland”

The town just made its ridiculously petty claims for back taxes go away. I knew about the one for $1.16, but there was another one for 50 cents. And check out the last paragraph of the excerpt:

Women settle tax disputes with Loveland
Agree to pay what they owe - $1.16 and 50 cents - plus $25

LOVELAND - Officials here said Monday that they intend to ask a judge this week to dismiss criminal charges against two women who have failed to pay miniscule city income taxes.
In exchange, the women, Deborah Combs, 51, and Lisa Mason, 36, will pay the taxes they owe and reduced penalties of $25 each.
Combs, who faced three counts of failure to pay taxes and one count of failure to file an income tax return, owed $1.16. Mason, who was charged with three counts of failure to pay taxes, owed 50 cents.
The women faced a maximum of 18 months in jail and about $4,000 apiece in penalties, court costs and other fees, one of their lawyers said.
Combs also has agreed to file her 2000 tax return - and the city will assist her with that requirement, Loveland officials said.
When completed, Combs’ 2000 tax return will be the last of five late tax returns she will have submitted to the city.
Loveland Mayor Rob Weisgerber said Monday in a statement that he was pleased with the outcome.
“This is a victory for Loveland taxpayers,” he said.
“The city will receive what it has wanted all along: for these two residents to file their tax return and pay any taxes owed. It has never been the city’s desire to convict these taxpayers of criminal charges.”
The city’s former mayor, Brad Greenberg, had said last fall that Loveland should drop the charges - but City Council balked.
Council members said they wanted to wait until a newly created, council-appointed citizen tax review panel weighed in on the situation.
The panel, made up of lawyers Arthur Phelps and Tim Butler and tax accountant Carolyn Bingaman - all Loveland citizens - is examining the city’s income tax code and enforcement process and is expected to report back to council soon.
In the meantime, the incident became a public relations black eye for Loveland.
Loveland’s prosecutor, Joseph Braun, said he negotiated with the women’s lawyers throughout the holiday weekend because the city wanted to resolve the matter.
Mason’s case was scheduled for a jury trial Thursday in Hamilton County Municipal Court.
Interim City Manager Tom Carroll said Loveland approached the women’s lawyers last week with a settlement offer similar to one made to them earlier this year - but this time, the city lowered the penalty amounts.
“This is important to the citizens of Loveland,” Braun said. “A lot of people had interest in seeing this settled fairly, and I believe it was.”
The women always intended to pay the taxes, stressed one of their lawyers, Chris Finney of Hyde Park.
“Both women are relieved that it’s over,” he said. “The complete victory is for them that the charges have been dropped. … They are pleased to have this behind them.”
Monday’s settlement doesn’t resolve a federal lawsuit that Finney filed in November on behalf of the women against Loveland.
The suit seeks to reform the city’s procedures and alleges that its practice of allowing police offers to accept cash for bail from defendants at the scene of traffic stops is illegal.
….. But as terms of the settlement, Loveland officials have agreed to review any concerns the defendants or their lawyers have about the city’s income tax code. About 200 citizens annually don’t pay their city income taxes, Carroll said.

The article “conveniently” (for the town) avoids telling us the penalty amounts the Lords and Lawyers of Loveland originally wanted, and readers should have been told. Here’s the answer in the $1.16 case, from an October 17 AP report: “Combs owed $200 in late fees — $50 for each year she didn’t file a return,” and apparently if the criminal charges stuck (dream on), another $4,000. Knowing that, it’s pretty clear that the town’s decision to drop the criminal charges in return for the taxes owed and $25 penalties was made to cut its losses, and to end what has become a complete national embarrassment. The Lords and Lawyers of Loveland should have settled for the $25 penalties weeks ago.

The town’s “cash to the cops at traffic stops” program sounds like a recipe for corruption. I have not heard of a similar practice elsewhere, but I am fortunately not fully-versed personally in the nuances of police traffic stops.

And talk about misplaced priorities — How many of the 200 not paying taxes at all do you think owe more than $1.16?

It’s going to take a lot of Valentine’s cards with the town’s postmark on them to make up for this fiasco.