Masterabaters

Well I guess we should not have to wait forever for the upcoming audit of the town of Windsor without a timely little update a NHInsider.com commenter or two from either side of the issue has asked/begged for.

First a brief/sorry history:

Taxpayers concerned that the 2007 State mandated Tax Collector’s Report handed out to the attending victims and beneficiaries of the Windsor Annual meeting had no numbers available but only a sad little note saying “Not available at this time” – page 17 if I remember correctly, contacted The Coalition of NH Taxpayers.

CNHT Directors went to meet the victims of the Windsor property tax scam at several of their homes and through those meetings became aware of how big a story this was. Think about it. The DRA was letting Windsor officials get away with not collecting property taxes from friends and relatives.

This is a huge deal to us at CNHT and a giant rip-off of the Windsor taxpayers who foot the bill for the whole town.

We asked for documents, we were delayed and denied.

We went to Superior Court, won the documents, costs, and had a laugh at the excuses the Town Counsel gave the judge for the officials not keeping records.

Our new Windsor taxpayer group began auditing what was won in court.

CNHT accompanied Windsor taxpayers to DRA meetings and provided support.

So in the mean time four Windsor officials have resigned. They are:

Tax Collector, Beverly Hines

Treasurer, Mrs. Carlson

Selectman, Gerry Needham

Selectman, Thomas J. Carlson

On May 20 of this year the then Board of Selectmen “ABATED” the property taxes of certain citizens in Windsor through a letter written as follows:

Town of Windsor

14 White Pond Rd.

Windsor, NH

03244

Phone# 478-3292, Fax# 478-3293

To the Collector of Taxes (new)

Kenneth Matthews

14 White Pond Rd.

Windsor, NH 03244

Tax Collector:

By vote of the Board of Selectmen upon the review of the “audit” (sic) we have abated the total amount of on (sic) the 2004 Property taxes of ( original document states name ) name (sic) now of Valera (Map # Lot #) in the amount of (the taxes not paid).

This action takes place in Windsor, New Hampshire.

Date: May 20, 2008

Per Order of the Selectmen of the Town of Windsor.

Thomas J. Carlson

Gerald Needham

Darlene Cuddy

Here is a sample of what was “ABATED”.

Joan Cuddy, $722.00 in property tax and $469.90 in interest from 2002.

Patrick Hines, $1635.00 in Property taxes and $861.06 in interest from 2002.

John Kablik, $864.25 in property taxes and $48.59 in interest from 2003.

Now this is where it gets fishy. Check out NH tax law.

76:17-d Abatement Refund. – The selectmen or assessors may apply all or a portion of the amount of any taxes abated, along with interest computed according to this chapter, to any outstanding taxes owed by the taxpayer to the municipality. Taxes shall be considered outstanding if they are subject to interest pursuant to RSA 76:13 . The selectmen or assessors shall send notice to the taxpayer of the amount credited against outstanding taxes and the date the credit was recorded.

Source. 1997, 241:1, eff. Jan. 1, 1998.

76:13 Interest. – Interest at 12 percent per annum shall be charged upon all taxes except resident taxes, except as otherwise provided by statute, not paid on or before December 1 after their assessment , which shall be collected from that date with the taxes as incident thereto, except in the case where a tax bill sent to the taxpayer on or after November 2 and before April 1 of the following year interest shall not be charged until 30 days after the bills are mailed. Interest due in an amount up to $25 may be waived by the collector, with the approval and consent of the board of selectmen and the board of assessors, if in the collector's judgment the administrative and collection costs involved do not warrant collection of the amount due . The tax collector shall state on the tax bill the date from which interest will be charged and such date shall be determined by the day the collector sends out the last tax bill on the list. The collector shall notify the board of tax and land appeals in writing of the date on which the last tax bill was sent.

As per state statute the Windsor selectmen can not “ABATE” taxes owed/never paid, nor can they “WAIVE” any interest over $25.00.

They can only FORGIVE the taxes owed and should do this only for just cause such as a change or mistake in property assessment.

I would love to hear that reasoning for forgiving what totaled about $20,000.00 in past due taxes but the Windsor Selectmen aren’t talking very much now.

Comments

[Taxpayer]

Ed;; Thanks for the call. I love the title.

[Ed Naile]

Thought you would!

[Suzanne]

Second on the title. Kudos Naile.

[M]

You forgot to mention that Darlene Cuddy, the new Chair of the Selectboard was also one of those people that had her taxes "abated". She actually signed her own "abatement". And...Joan Cuddy is her mother-in-law. Let's keep it in the family; shall we.

[EdNaile]

M:

As I have mentioned before, The boston Globe reporter who did the FRONT PAGE March 28, 2008 story about this scandal was musing to herself about how great it would be to have a family tree of who is who to look at in regards to municipal wheeling and dealing.

She was handed one already made up.

She also left with some fresh cookies for the ride back to Boston.

What is funny is how a Boston paper is interested in this but NH papers are NOT!

Shows how far Lynchachusetts has sunk.

[John Galt]

Maybe we'll see something about it in the New Hampshire Free Press or the Manchester Free Press or the Idaho Observer(the one by Don Harkin).

[EdNaile]

John:

A good way to present this issue is how pure democracy works in practice when not controlled by morality or higher legal authority.

Mob rule is what you had in Windsor.

65% can vote to do anything they want, or think they can get away with, to the 35% without other laws.

CNHT just aquainted the Windsor Coalition of Taxpayers, approximately .02%, with state statutes, and how to win a case pro se.

Then we put pressure in the right places in Concord's miriad of state offices, the papers, on the web, and talk radio.

[curious]

So did Mr. Jonathan Valera, member of Windsor Coalition of Taxpayers, have some back taxes not paid? His name is mentioned in the letter. . .

[M]

Curious, Mr. Valera has nothing to do with the Coalition. Never has and never will. And....Mr. Valera always pays his taxes on time. Just thought you should now some "actual" facts.

[EdNaile]

curious:

Am I glad you asked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Valera bought a piece ofproperty that was in the "Windsor Twilight Zone"

What is the "Windsor Twilight Zone"?

Well, when selectmen and the tax collector don't collect taxes for any number of years from friends and relatives it has a domino effect.

The Windsor Selectmen stated in court,through their attorney, that they do not deed property - fact.

JJ Valera went to a property owner who was not in on the Windsor scam and did not know his failure to pay taxes for about 8 years on a lot he owned DID NOT RESULT IN THE LOT BEING SOLD FOR BACK TAXES! Fact.

Shazaam! It was trapped in the Windsor Twilight Zone. Just like atear in the time space continuum the lot was spinning in a votex of corruption and mismanagement.Fact

JJ paid the back taxes and bought it.

Good or him!

[curious]

still not clear on why his name is in your abated letter? please explain! thank you!

[EdNaile]

Curious:

He paid the back taxes as part of the deal to buy the limbo land from the owner who had not paid them and thought he lost the property.

CNHT tipped JJ off to the best attorney to solve this riddle.

JJ is not part of the Windsor taxpayer group.

[curious]

So Jonathan Valera is "not" part of the Windsor Coalition of Taxpayers, but he supplies Ed Naile, chairman (or whatever) of the CNHT, with documents he receives from the Town of Windsor. . . interesting. . .Is he not a welcomed member of the WCT because he has publicly threatened to bankrupt the town with lawsuits? and ya'll don't want any part of that right?

[EdNaile]

curious:

I get documents from Windsor from any number of sources.

The best of course is the DRA itself where the letters from the DRA to your crooks dating back to 2001 were asking the Windsor Selectemen to straighten out their mess.

The DRA suggested training and following the law.

Did you know that the front page story about Windsor in the Boston Globe generated information to us from readers who live in Ma.?

Yep, suddenly, out of state taxpayers who your board were screwing started sending in copies of their strange tax bills.

This happened in Ashland back in 2000 as well.

CNHT helped JJ win his right to film the Windsor Town Meeting before there was a Windsor Coalition of Taxpayers.

Did you forget?

[Just wondering]

The chairman of the Board of Selectman "signed her own abatement." What the heck goes down in this Town? This woman belongs in jail.

[What Goes Around, Comes Around]

To Michael Cuddy, husband of Darlene Cuddy: What goes around, comes around. May your dear mother rest in peace! May your conscience, if you have one, keep you awake nights!

[What Goes Around, Comes Around]

And may you continue to live in your barn!

[What Goes Around, Comes Around]

because your trailer has been repossessed! All this after you turned your back on your dead mother's wishes which she put in writing and had notarized. You took this notarized document and did not follow her wishes. Now,it is you that has lost your trailer and taken to the barn. Let all your neighbors and townspeople know what kind of a person you really are. Nice your wife, chairman of the board, can abate your own taxes.

[What Goes Around, Comes Around]

what did that notorized document state? It stated that your mother wanted 5 acres of land to go to each of her five grandchildren. A total of 20 acres of her property. She did this after her oldest son died and left 5 children. You somehow determined that this should not happen post your mother's death. Now you are responsible for her back taxes, but wait, wifey abates it for y'all! Shortly after your mother died and you took her notorized statement to give 5 acres of land to each of her grandchildren, you lose your trailer and move into the barn. HOW IS THAT FOR KARMA! YES RESIDENTS OF WINDSOR, THIS MAN IS THE HUSBAND OF YOUR CURRENT CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMAN. Rest in peace, Joan. You were a wonderful woman. I am sorry your son is what he is.

[m]

What goes around, comes around. Nice statement! I'd just like to add a little more insite to your wonderful information. Poor Mrs. Cuddy is definately rolling in her grave because if you go onto the NH Registry of Deeds, you see that the wonderful Mr. Michael Cuddy never paid for his mother's funeral services and the Woodbury Funeral Home had to put an attachment on his property in the amount of $7,500.00. Gee....I'd be so proud to have him as a husband.....how 'bout you?