Frustration Over Tax Collector Probe

Frustration Over Tax Collector Probe
Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

HUBBARDSTON  More than a year after financial records from the tax collector’s office were turned over to the Worcester County district attorney’s office, officials expressed frustration over the apparent lack of headway being made in the investigation.

Looking to answer questions out in the community, Board of Selectman chairman Michael Stauder addressed the crowd during Tuesday’s Town Meeting, assuring residents that the town is continuing to take the case seriously.

“We’re currently awaiting their findings and recommendations,” Mr. Stauder said. “Unfortunately, until that time, we cannot speak any further about the intricacies about the case in front of us because we’re bound by legal statute.”

Last year, Mr. Stauder explained that “serious irregularities” were discovered during the course of the town’s regular financial audit, which were then quickly investigated by officials before being forwarded to the DA’s office. In May, former Tax Collector Cynthia Washburn-Doane resigned from her position after working for the town for 25 years, and the DA’s office launched its investigation into the tax collector’s office the following week.

“Unfortunately, however, the district attorney’s process has continued on for much longer than any of us would have anticipated,” Mr. Stauder said.

“It’s extremely frustrating on our end and for the people we’re talking to.” Once the investigation is complete, Mr. Stauder said, officials will release as much information as can be made public.

This is not the only lengthy investigation into a former tax collector the DA’s office has undertaken. The office reviewed financial records and forensic audits for well over a year before formally charging Marcia Langelier, Barre’s former tax collector, with stealing more than $300,000 in town funds in October 2013.

Two years later, that case is still working its way through Worc­ester Superior Court.

In the meantime, Mr. Stauder said the town is taking measures to prevent a similar situation from arising again, primarily through the purchase of new software modules for the tax collector’s office. Town Admin­istrator Anita Scheipers describ­ed the program, produced by a company called Softrite, as “basically foolproof,” as it tracks any changes made and can’t be tampered with.

The town’s previous software, Ms. Scheipers has said, was problematic and insecure.

She had said the old software did “not track the items that are being deleted from files.”

The new software will cost about $60,000, which will be spread over three years.