Glacier County treasurer’s work called into question

Frustrated.

That’s perhaps the best word to describe how taxpayers and government officials feel about Glacier County Treasurer Mary Ann Boggs.

More than six months after taking office, officials report Boggs and her office are behind on processing financial reports, which impact other government agencies and ultimately taxpayers.

“We’re writing checks blindly,” Cut Bank Schools Superintendent Wade Johnson said.

Johnson said the school district sets a budget and is aware that money is still coming in and bills on behalf of the district are still being paid. But it isn’t getting its monthly accounting reports from the treasurer’s office, which ensures that what the district is paying and budgeting for matches up with the finances received.

When contacted by the Tribune on Thursday, Boggs said she couldn’t provide an immediate answer on how much her office had caught up on its financial reports. She told the Tribune that there are “two sides to every story” but declined to comment further.

“We are super, super busy right now,” she said.

Scott Laird, business manager for the school district, said typically the district will receive and review its previous month’s financial report by the 20th day of the next month. But the district just finished up its fiscal year and only has accounting reports from the treasurer’s office through March.

“We need to know our money is there,” Laird said. “We can’t get our budget put together.”

Additionally, homeowners trying to pay their tax bills are facing challenges. Angela Haas reported that her family’s mortgage company attempted to pay their property tax bill only to be told by the treasurer’s office there wasn’t an amount due on their account, so the money was refunded to the Haas. She then pulled up her tax bill online and it showed she was facing penalty and interest for not paying the bill.

“One of my co-workers is experiencing the same thing,” Haas wrote on her Facebook page. “Glacier County Residents beware.”

The Cut Bank Pioneer Press reported at the end of June that Boggs informed Glacier County residents that a program error in the tax management software was to blame and her office was working to fix the problem.

The problems in the treasurer’s office have prompted Glacier County commissioners to get involved, even though they have no direct oversight of an elected official. The county previously contracted with Kate Salois to help Boggs’ office catch up on reports and finances. The Cut Bank Pioneer Press has previously reported that Salois was paid about $23,500 for her work from February through early June.

Glacier County Attorney Carolyn Berkram declined to say whether she believed Boggs and the Glacier County treasurer’s office had violated Montana Code Annotated guidelines and could face any sort of legal ramifications.

“My job is to give (the county) good, sound legal advice,” Berkram said.

Glacier County has now contracted with Denning, Downing and Associates — an accounting firm out of Kalispell — to assist with the treasurer’s office. The contract states that the accounting firm will act in an advisory capacity only. Commissioners agreed to pay $205 per hour for the firm’s work and that they hoped to be done by the end of July.

“Our best estimate is that this project will take approximately 400 hours,” the letter from Denning, Downing and Associates reads, meaning their work could cost upward of $80,000.

Residents like Elaine Mitchell are fed up. Mitchell recently paid her property tax bill, but did so under protest, which means the treasurer’s office can’t use her property tax funds to pay bills until issues are resolved. She is also planning to file a class action lawsuit based on this latest issue and what has been months in the making.

“The whole operation is very nonchalant,” Mitchell said.

For her, the concerns started back in November, when tax bills were going out and Glacier County had yet to adopt a budget. Boggs hadn’t been elected at that point. Mitchell said the county didn’t adopted its current fiscal year budget until January, when the fiscal year began in July 2014.

Since then she’s been frustrated with Boggs’ lack of response to her inquiries as well as the Glacier County commissioners. Mitchell said she believes the treasurer’s office is violating state law when it comes to filing timely reports. It’s part of the claim she’s made in her protested taxes and will be part of the suit she intends to file when she can find out exactly how many other taxpayers are paying bills under protest.

“If they aren’t properly handling (money) then we don’t want to immediately give them more to spend,” Mitchell said.