Special to the Beacon Journal
HARTVILLE: The long arm of the law may be soon reaching out to some 400 residents who have not filed recent village income tax returns.
Village Council on Tuesday authorized the administration to use more aggressive legal tactics to compel scofflaws to file returns and pay back taxes.
Citizens who do not respond to letters are to be presented with a summons by a police officer. Ignoring a summons is to result in prosecution with the potential of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail, according to Fiscal Officer Scott Varney.
He told council that 25 of 50 people who received recent letters about compliance have responded. Not all have owed taxes. Some were charged a $25 fine for failure to file despite having paid their 1 percent income tax through payroll withholding. One was a student who appeared on tax rolls by virtue of past employment but was no longer working.
About 10 of the respondents owed taxes, Varney said. Information is still being gathered on four or five others.
Council’s action came two weeks after the passage of a ballot initiative that reinstated an income tax credit previously eliminated by council.
The credit for municipal income taxes paid elsewhere is expected to take effect in December.
Restoration of the tax credit is estimated to cost the village government $310,000 annually.