COB OCCUPANCY TAX FIRM: MERELY INEPT, OR FRAUDULENT?

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Call it total misalignment.

When City of Brownsville City Manager Noel Bernal recommended approval of the Buy Board hiring of Chigago-based Localgov Hotel Occupancy tax collection firm to handle hotel occupancy tax (HOT), he hailed it as a step up in professionalism and excellence.

No more would the city have to rely on mere mortals at the City Secretary's office to collect the fees as part of their duties and city employment at no extra cost to the city. Now, for a slight commission, a crackerjack firm from Chicago would handle the function. They could also assess penalties and extra fees.

But the payees of the tax – local hotel and motel owners  and rental car companies – have had a slightly different experience that they can only attribute to the firm's ineptness and – God forbid – deliberate fraud or intent to defraud.

An example of this "total misalignment" is the case of a payee whose $526 in tax remittances were accepted by the city on May 2, only to be notified nine days later – on May 11 – that the payment had been rejected.

The receipt above show that the city confirmed the payment of the HOT tax on May 2. The, on May 11, Localgov notified the payee that they were rejecting the payment for no apparent reason.

So what gives?

It seems that since the tax is due to be paid at the end of the month and it fell on a weekend, they penalized the payee when the payment was made on the first business day, which was May 2. They were charged penalties and interest and their payment was rejected.

Only a strident protest by their representative forced them to return the extra cash.

But did every other business caught in the same predicament protest, or just meekly handed them their hard-earned money?

Do the math. Say $25 in penalties multiplied 300 times. Over a year that could add up to real money going from Brownsville to Chicago.

Is it merely a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

Or it is a deliberate attempt to defraud and gouge the small business owner?

How can such "total misalignment" occur in a supposedly professional outfit (Localgov) and the supposedly professional city management who hired them (Noel Bernal)? 

More to come.