DA: Tax Collector Took $500,000

DA: Tax Collector Took $500,000 Cynthia Washburn-Doane indicted over alleged 10-year scheme

John Vincent Newspapers in Education coordinator HUBBARDSTON  Former Hubbardston Tax Collector Cynthia Washburn-Doane has been indicted on charges of stealing more than $500,000 over a 10-year period. Ms. Washburn-Doane was indicted on Tuesday by a Worcester County Grand Jury on charges of larceny of more than $250 by a common scheme, making false entries in financial books, and fraud or embezzlement by a town officer. The charges stem from allegations that Ms. Washburn-Doane had taken more than $500,000 from the town of Hubbardston over a 10-year period beginning in 2004, according to the District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.’s Office. She will be arraigned in Worcester Superior Court on Dec. 23. Financial records from the tax collector’s office had been turned over to the District Attorney’s Office over a year ago after irregularities were discovered during the course of the town’s regular financial audit and a special audit that was done to investigate the problem. In May, Ms. Washburn-Doane resigned from her job as tax collector after working for the town for 25 years. The District Attorney’s Office launched its investigation the following week. Tumbling tax collection rates during fiscal 2012, 2013 and 2014 prompted the town to hire auditors Scanlon & Associates of South Deerfield for $55,000 to do a special audit on those years. The audit confirmed that tax collection was down significantly. While a town will typically collect about 98 percent of its real estate tax commitment, Hubbardston was pulling in only 90 percent in fiscal 2012, and then only 87 percent the following year. Town officials had said this summer that they were taking measures to prevent a similar situation from arising again, primarily through the purchase of new software for the Tax Collector’s Office. The Softrite computer software was described as “basically foolproof,” as it tracks any changes made and can’t be tampered with. The town’s previous software was said to be problematic as it did “not track the items that are being deleted from files.” The new software costs about $60,000, which will be spread over three years. Kori Stuart, who had been serving as assistant tax collector, was hired as the tax collector in October 2014.