County gets check for unpaid interest on taxes

Bourbon County recently received a $5,335.16 check from the county's liability and insurance company to replace interest on taxes uncollected from the county treasurer's office.

Kansas County Association Multi-Line Pool sent the payment on the treasurer's bond for the miscalculated interest on March 19, County Clerk Joanne Long said.

Last week, KCAMP Administrator Tom Job informed Long that according to county policy, the treasurer's bond is still in effect for Treasurer Susan Quick for 2012 and she is "eligible to be bonded in the future, should she be re-elected."

Additionally, the insurance company "intends to recoup the money" from Quick, according to County Commission meeting minutes from March 19. Job is out of town for the week and was unavailable for comment. A company attorney, who asked that his name not be used, also declined to comment.

After the county received the check, Quick said she'd "like to work something out" to take care of this situation by possibly using what was turned over to (the general fund) to cover it, or by seeing if those taxpayers who underpaid will pay their balance due.

The recovered money will go back into the treasurer's fund.

County Commissioner Jingles Edincott referred to it as a "touchy situation."

"It's an unfortunate thing but it could have been prevented," Edincott said. "We feel like it could have been prevented."

County commissioners, with the help of County Attorney Terri Johnson, filed a claim against the treasurer's bond to recover the amount on Feb. 6. Johnson did not return phone calls seeking comment regarding the status of the claim.

"We felt like we had no other choice," Edincott said.

Quick said she spoke to Job and he said "no claims have been made on official's bonds since 1997."

"I was very unhappy about that (the claim) because I talked to Job and he told me they hadn't had a claim in 20 years," she said. "I don't feel like the commissioners have been behind me."

About 30 residents addressed Bourbon County Commissioners in August with concerns regarding tax interest manipulation and questionable tax practices by Quick, according to an October Tribune article.

Commissioners then ordered an audit be conducted on Quick's office. Terry Sercer, with Diehl, Banwart, Bolton CPAs, performed the audit and stated in his report that on "23 of 224 partial payment plans, the interest rate made no sense whatsoever."

From the audit, it was figured that $5,335.16 worth of interest on taxes that were not collected in 2010.

Audit results were sent to the Kansas Attorney General's Office, but Edincott said the county has yet to receive any decision, recommendation, or even response regarding the audit findings.

Two weeks ago, commissioners sent a letter to Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office requesting more information. Schmidt's office did not return phone calls from the Tribune requesting the status of the state's investigation.

Quick places the blame for the miscalculated interest on technology. She said the error was the result of a discrepancy between two accounting software programs.

"Nothing was done intentionally or maliciously," she said.

Quick, who has been treasurer since 2001, said she felt like the situation has been a "personal attack on her."

Edincott said that is not the case.

"She thinks we are attacking her personally, but according to the Kansas statute as we read it 'interest and taxes cannot be forgiven, except in a bankruptcy,'" he said. "The interest was calculated wrong by the treasurer and those people thought they had paid their taxes. They had relied on the treasurer."

Edincott said with any type of computer program, the information still needs to be verified. He said he doesn't think this was ever done.

"To me it was very visible that the interest was calculated right on several of them and the county treasurer, she states she was relying solely on the computer and the computer is no better than the people that enter the information in it," Edincott said. "She had not done what she was supposed to to collect that. We didn't have any other option other than to go back and collect from the individuals, but we didn't think that was going to get us anywhere."

Edincott said now that the county has filed the claim, he's just "waiting to see where it goes from there." So is Quick.

She said although she doesn't know what's going to happen from here, but she's hoping for the best. Quick filed for re-election by petition on March 1.

The Republican primary is Aug. 7 and the general election is Nov. 6.

"I'm just trying to keep to my cool," Quick said. "It's been rough since the end of August, but I am going to run again and intend to win, hopefully. I'm going to hope the people that know me know that I'm honest and work hard."