DATE: Tuesday, September 16, 1997           TAG: 9709160008

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   53 lines

NORFOLK CITY TREASURER NO DELINQUENTS, PLEASEMUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, WHO ARE PAID BY TAXPAYERS, SHOULD STAY RIGHT WITH THE TAX COLLECTOR.

Many Norfolk city employees expressed anger as well as shock upon learning that City Treasurer Joseph T. Fitzpatrick had asked City Hall to withhold money from paychecks to collect $193,000 in past-due personal-property taxes plus penalties and interest. Some employees complained of discrimination.

The charge doesn't wash. Norfolk's treasurer now collects about $17 million in personal-property tax a year. Most taxpayers pay promptly. A minority coughs up in response to delinquent tax notices. Those who ignore notices are ordered to appear for a court hearing on a specific date on a motion for judgment against them.

The treasurer's office prepares about 15,000 such motions annually. The high constable issues hearing notices. Upward of 80 percent who are notified square their accounts quickly. Those who do not show up in court risk the legal system's wrath.

Getting City Hall to subtract the personal-property tax owed from paychecks of 767 municipal employees - a third of all Norfolk employees living in the city - is less hassle and less costly than the motion-for-judgment route. Although Norfolk's treasurer has not previously used the procedure, the Virginia Beach treasurer implemented it in the early '90s.

That Norfolk City Councilman Paul R. Riddick was among those whose paycheck was diminished by the treasurer is another mark against the former vice mayor. Riddick is behind in tax payments to federal, state and local government. The feds and the commonwealth already take a big chunk of his $23,000 council salary to defray what he owes them.The subtraction for Riddick's delinquent personal-property tax was a comparatively modest $215.

Riddick also is behind in real-estate-tax payments to the city, but Treasurer Fitzpatrick reports that when the Internal Revenue Service and the Virginia Department of Taxation have extracted their pounds of flesh, precious little is left for the city.

Riddick pleads slack times in his funeral-parlor business. He pays on his real-estate tax debt from time to time.

All citizens have a duty to pay their taxes in a timely manner. Failing to do so adds to the costs on government at the expense of responsible taxpayers.

City employees should be especially scrupulous about living up to this civic responsibility. And elected officials, such as Riddick, who vote on taxes are obligated to be role models. Instead, Riddick sets a bad example.

Treasurer Fitzpatrick has done his duty. Employees howling about the bite from their paychecks have little cause for complaint. If they stay right with the tax collector, they will avoid unpleasant surprises. Keeping current with their tax bills shouldn't be impossible. Their work is steady, the city is solvent and their paychecks arrive on schedule.

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