WALBRIDGE – The village has mailed 600 letters in an attempt to collect unpaid income taxes going back to 2018.
Council member Karen Baron, who is chairperson of council’s budget and finance committee, reported at Wednesday’s meeting that 447 cases remain unpaid.
Once collection for 2018-2022 is exhausted, fiscal officer Andrew Tepper will move to 2023, she said.
She said after the meeting most delinquencies are from people who don’t realize Walbridge has a 1.5% income tax.
Mayor Ed Kolanko guessed the amount unpaid was around $70,000.
Tepper was hired at the beginning of the year and was familiar with the software to allow the village to find delinquent taxpayers, he said.
“We weren’t using it to its potential,” he said.
People have been really positive when they come to the administrative office with the notice they received telling them they owe back taxes, he said.
“A lot of people didn’t know they had to file village income tax,” he said.
Baron also reported the committed discussed increasing wages for police officers with the plan to boost retention and recruitment.
If the village’s police department goes away, they will have to depend on the Wood County Sheriff’s Office, she said.
“We do not have any issues of losing our police department,” Kolanko said.
Three potential hires were going through the interview process, he said.
Council member Sue Hart-Douglas said she has been in the village for 15 years and she has heard this concern before “and sometimes we’ve gotten really close.”
Also at the meeting, members discussed the placement of a zip line purchased with park grant money.
Village Administrator Todd Robson mentioned that due to liability, a professional firm would be installing the zip line at Friendship Park.
“There was a lot of discussion for quite a while on the zip line,” said LaDenna Johnston, who chairs the parks, recreation and community events committee, and that discussion had the zip line at Loop Park.
The grant was written to place the zip line, which is 32 feet long, at Loop Park, and she had not been told of the move to another park.
“Who made that final decision,” Johnston asked, “because I don’t agree with that at all.”
We have a history of applying for grants and putting them in the wrong place, she said, and cited placement of the park bleachers at the ballfields.
That zip line was for Loop Park, where the older kids play, she said.
Council member Thomas Urbina asked whether the grant allows playground equipment to be moved.
Kolanko said it was possible to get permission.
He said the issue will be discussed at the next park committee meeting. A date was not set.
“If you don’t want it at Railway, we won’t put it at Railway,” he said.
Also at the meeting:
• Caryl Stone, chair of the safety and criminal justice committee, reported there will be a block watch meeting Oct. 9 at 6:30 at the library.
• Council hired Ryan Hauter as a part-time general maintenance worker for $18.42 per hour.
