DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709130337

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   92 lines

RIDDICK BEHIND ON CITY, STATE AND FEDERAL TAXES NORFOLK WILL DOCK PAY OF COUNCILMAN AND 766 OTHER CITY EMPLOYEES

City Councilman Paul R. Riddick, who has a history of unpaid city taxes that dates to the early 1990s, is among the more than 700 city employees whose salaries will be docked to pay delinquent personal property taxes.

Riddick will have $215.04 deducted from his city paycheck to cover the tax on 1979 and 1988 Cadillacs, according to the city treasurer's office.

Records also revealed that Riddick has accumulated more than $130,000 in other delinquent city, state and federal taxes since 1993.

Riddick said in a telephone interview Friday that he had sold the 1979 Cadillac three years ago and didn't owe taxes on it. He said he thought he had already paid the personal property taxes on the 1988 model.

Altogether, 767 city employees - about one of every three municipal workers who live in Norfolk - failed to pay an estimated $193,000 in taxes on such personal property as cars and trucks by the June 5 deadline.

Besides owing the car tax, Riddick has run up more than $9,300 in delinquent city real estate taxes that date to March 1994 on his funeral-service business on Norview Avenue, records show.

In addition, Norfolk currently is deducting more than $500 from Riddick's bimonthly city paycheck to pay off liens issued by the state and federal governments since at least 1993 to collect delinquent taxes he owes, City Treasurer Joseph T. Fitzpatrick said.

Documents in Norfolk's Circuit Court show that, since February 1993, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has issued judgments totaling more than $100,000 to recover unpaid income and business taxes and penalties from Riddick. The state has filed similar judgments totalling more than $26,000, records show.

It was not clear how much of the state and federal judgments Riddick has since paid.

Fitzpatrick said that ``there's not enough money left over'' from Riddick's check to pay off the city real estate taxes after the state and federal deductions are made. Riddick is paid $23,000 a year as a City Council member.

Riddick periodically pays off his city real estate taxes, said Fitzgerald, who described his payments as ``kind of spasmodic. He pays for a quarter or two and then he misses a quarter or two. He doesn't have a perfect payment record.''

Riddick attributed the delinquencies to tough times in his funeral business.

Being a council member, he said, ``doesn't make me immune to slow periods.''

``I'm in business just like anybody, and I guess like any other business person you wish you could just stroke a check and pay off all your bills,'' Riddick said. ``It's not a picnic, you take your knocks.''

Because he is a council member, Riddick said, ``I have a lot of shots taken at me because of my stands.''

Riddick, a councilman with a reputation as a fighter for racial equality and the poor, was first elected to council in May 1992.

In October 1992, in another crackdown by Fitzpatrick, it was revealed that Riddick owed more than $30,000 in delinquent city real estate taxes.

Riddick said in a published interview at the time that he fell behind on real estate taxes when he moved his family-owned funeral business to Norview Avenue in 1985. He said he had shouldered a large mortgage to buy the property, and the payments made it impossible to keep up on taxes.

Riddick was able to work out an arrangement with Fitzpatrick to begin paying off the debt, according to reports.

In 1994, Riddick narrowly won re-election to the Ward 4 seat against four challengers.

Riddick said Friday that he is more worried about city employees having money deducted from their paychecks than any damage to his reputation.

``What people think about me doesn't make any difference,'' he said. ``Who I really am concerned about and have compassion for are all those city employees whose checks on the 15th are going to be light,'' he said. ``They can take it from me, I don't care, but to take it from the average worker I think is awful.''

City administrators met with members of the city's Employee Relations Committee Friday to answer questions and offer moral support, but offered little more than information about where they might obtain temporary loans or get help restructuring debt.

``It's a personal obligation, but one the city is sensitive to,'' Assistant City Manager Shurl Montgomery said.

Employees said they were most upset about not being notified sooner that their checks were going to be docked. The tax bills range from $10 to more than $1,000, meaning some employees might not have money left in their checks once the taxes are deducted.

Employees were notified of the city treasurer's action Tuesday, but, by then, the checks had already been prepared, workers said.

``They told us, `It's done, there's nothing we can do,' '' said Donell Davis, a Public Works employee who met Friday with city officials. ``Now it's cutting into people's mortgages and car bills.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Norfolk City Councilman Paul R. Riddick owes more than $9,300 in

taxes on real estate. KEYWORDS: NORFOLK PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX

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