By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
A Bucyrus City income tax complaint created a firestorm over the weekend after being posted to Crawford County Now’s Opinion section, but the matter is not quite over yet.
Law Director Rob Ratliff acknowledged that court costs were leveled against the young man involved in the tax complaint.
“I felt it best to de-escalate the situation,” Ratliff said, “just have them come back so they could talk to the judge because she’s his mom, not his attorney.”
He was referring to the day that Janelle Shelby and her son, the man who was not only charged with tax evasion but had a warrant issued for his arrest, appeared for a court hearing in reference to tax issues from 2012, 2013, and 2014. Shelby and her son were able to prove to the City Income Tax Office that he was a minor at the time and were told to take documentation to Crawford County Municipal Court.
With over 200 other tax summonses to deal with that day, matters between Shelby, her son, and the court quickly escalated.
“The situation was he had a warrant and a number of prior appearances, but he had a warrant and those situations the court likes to attach court costs because the court goes through a bunch of costs and expenses on issuing the warrants,” Ratliff explained. “I asked for it to be reset so they could come back and re-tell the court what happened and the court could decide whether or not they wanted to waive costs.”
Ratliff admitted that at least one charge was going to be dismissed due to the fact that the man was a minor at the time, something that the tax office missed when it sent out the original letters for the 2012 taxes.
The matter is currently pending another court hearing, at which time Ratliff said he believed the court would most likely waive the costs, though the ultimate decision will be left up to the judge.
“I don’t have the authority to waive the court’s costs,” Ratliff added. “I know what the court’s parameters are so I can say the court will agree to this or the court won’t agree to that. That’s what we did in this one – we reset it to let them have a chance to talk to the judge in waiving the warrant costs.”
Even if the court costs were not waived, the funds would go to the county court, not the city.
The situation brings to light an issue that City Auditor Joyce Schifer seemed a little exasperated with, if only because people did not realize what they were leaving behind: though a minor does not have to file city income taxes, if he or she worked within city limits, they were still entitled to a tax refund.
When it was pointed out to Schifer that other people commented on the article and on Facebook with similar situations, she stated that her office only wanted people to respond to letters sent to them in order to avoid escalating the matter.
RELATED CONTENT: Bucyrus city income tax court complaint