Staff report
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON--In several seperate incidents over the weekend according to the Brockton Police log, seven people were charged with drug possession, including trafficking in cocaine and possession of large capacity firearms and ammunition.
The first of the weekend drug arrests took place at about 4:30 p.m Friday, Jan. 7when police arrested Andrew McGaughey, 21, of Mansfield for possession to distribute a Class B drug, drug violation near a school or park, conspiracy to violate drug laws,failure to wear a seat belt, and two local warrants.
Also being held was Joseph Michael McGaughey, 47, of Mansfield for possession to distribute Class B drug, drug violation near school or park, conspiracy to violate drug law, and no inspection sticker.
On Saturday Jan. 8 around 9:38 p.m. Brockton Police responded to a call at 364 Centre Street for a suspicious motorist and charged Arcelino Santos Silva, 21, of Brockton with possession to distribute Class D drug, drug violation near a school or park, possession of a Class B drug, conspiracy to violate drug laws, and litter from a motor vehicle.
Also charged was Jacqueline J. Delgado, 21, of Brockton with possession to distribute Class D drug, conspiracy to violate drug laws and drug violation near a school or park.
On Sunday Jan. 9 around 9:13 p.m. Brockton police stopped a motor vehicle on North Warren Avenue and 1 Walnut Ave and charged Dana D. Tate, 39, of Brockton with trafficking in cocaine, failure to stop for police, resisting arrest, A&B on a police officer, possession of a firearm without a Firearms Identification Card, possession of large capacity firearm, unlawful possession of a large capacity feeding device, unlawful possession of ammunition, drug violation near a school or park, failure to stop or yield, motor vehicle lights violation, and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
Also charged in the stop was Dwayne Q. Douglas, 44, of Dorchester with trafficking in cocaine, drug violation near a school or park possession of a large capacity firearm, possession of a firearm without a Firearms Identification Card, unlawful possession of a large capacity feeding device, unlawful possession of ammunition, and disorderly conduct.
On Friday, January 7, around 12:25 p.m. police were informed of a larceny in progress at K-Mart at 2001 Main St.
A female allegedly shoplifted and was uncooperative and refused to come back into the store.
Maria Cristina Cruz, 29, of Brockton was charged with two counts of possession of a Class B drug, shoplifting by asportation and two counts of receiving stolen property.
Also charged in the incident was Joann Marie Tomblin, 47, of Brockton with shoplifting by asportation and two counts of receiving stolen property.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Legal Steps Possibility In Wake Of Water Bill Liens
By Lisa E. Crowley
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON—Brockton residents who have received liens for overdue water bills in this quarter’s property tax bill and refuse to pay the water bill be aware: Unless you specify you want your property tax payment to be applied to the property tax, the city collector’s office will pay the overdue water bill and interest first.
Treasurer-Collector Martin Brophy said the “hierarchy” of payment requires the collector pay the interest and overdue water bill before applying any payment to the homeowner’s property tax.
Brophy said if residents send in their payments it will go to a so-called “lock-box” and the payment will be applied to the overdue water bill and interest first.
If residents do not want their payment to go to the overdue water bill they should include a note within in their payment if mailed, but the best way to ensure the property tax is paid and not the water bill is to visit city hall in person.
“They’re best bet is to come into the collector’s office themselves and tell the clerk at the counter they want the money applied to their property tax,” Brophy said.
Ayanna YanceyCato, a resident with a nearly $17,000 overdue water bill said the word is spreading about the latest hassle in connection with their water bills following the city’s move to attach the overdue bills to residents’ property taxes—a move residents say is a betrayal of promises not to attach the liens and to give them three years to pay the overdue bills if an audit shows they actually used the water.
“What I feel the city did was a back door move—they misled the entire community…I have nothing but pure disgust for this situation,” YanceyCato said.
YanceyCato is only one of about 6,500 residents who received property tax bills this week and learned that the city also included liens—which some city officials are calling special assessments or attachments—for payment of overdue water bills.
The city’s move puts some people in the position of having their mortgage payments balloon because the water bills—which range from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of thousand to YanceyCato’s $17,000 and Robert Ford’s $12,000—unless paid will increase property taxes.
YanceyCato said in the case of this latest billing snafu she is lucky. She does not pay her real estate taxes through an escrow account, but residents who do, experts say, should contact their mortgage lender to try to make arrangements for payments—especially if they refuse to pay the overdue water bill.
“Homeowners should contact the lender directly and explain the situation,” said Richard Wulsin, a real estate tax attorney with Wulsin Murphy LLP in Norwood and Wellfleet and a member of the National Association of Real Estate Tax Attorneys.
Wulsin said the end result with each bank or mortgage holder will be different for each individual homeowner and there is no assurance residents will have a positive outcome.
“What is likely to happen is the lender will pay that balance and if the water bill adds a significant amount it could inflict some real pain on the home owner,” Wulsin said.
He said homeowners will be at the whim of the mortgage company and believes some will work with residents, while other behemoth institutions like Bank of America and CitiCorp will be difficult to deal with because they are so large it will be difficult to change the way their systems pay those escrow accounts.
Wulsin said it is highly unlikely lenders will extend any increases beyond one year because they do not want a lien on the property because a property with a lien cannot be refinanced or sold without a clean municipal lien certificate and effects the lender’s equity in the property.
While city officials are calling the liens special assessments or attachments, Wulsin said it is a “little deceptive” for the city to say this week’s notices are not liens because the property cannot be issued a clean municipal lien certificate to refinance or sell the property.
While these overdue bills—which are for the fiscal year 2009-2010—have not been filed at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds and likely will not until 2012, their impact on mortgage holders is similar.
“It’s a lien,” Wulsin said.
Wulsin, who has followed the issue through TV broadcasts, said the city seems to have its “head in the sand” in the way it has handled the situation and wondered why the water department head has not “taken the bull by the horns” to come to a quick and speedy resolution to people’s problems or to pull aside the disputed bills—a measure other cities and towns have done with success.
He suggested people like YanceyCato and Ford who have significantly large bills should hire a lawyer to protect their interests.
Wulsin also advises that if residents want to eventually take the matter to court they must follow the procedures set up by the city to dispute the bill.
He said the first step is to apply for an abatement with the billing authority, which in this case is the water department and Commissioner Michael Thoreson.
Residents have until Feb. 1—the date when the liens are due to be paid—to apply for the abatement and even residents like YanceyCato and Ford who have already received abatements should reapply because the liens are considered new bills.
He said residents cannot miss the Feb. 1 deadline and any other deadlines because without an abatement hearing—the first step—there is no jurisdiction for an appeal.
“Literally, if you are a day late you might as well be late forever,” Wulsin said.
Wulsin said if the abatement is denied then residents can appeal the bills to the state’s Appellate Tax Board—which has jurisdiction over disputed water bills in certain cases.
Mark DeFrancisco, chief counsel for the Appellate Tax Board, said residents must adhere to the very strict timeline and must follow the process to be able to take the matter to court.
He said if the overdue water bills are paid then an appeal would be in district, superior or small claims court.
If the bill is not paid then the matter is handled at the Appellate Tax Board.
He echoed Wulsin’s comments that the process is very strict on deadlines and can be complicated.
“It’s a morass for people to navigate through,” DeFrancisco said.
Meanwhile city officials are explaining why the liens have been issued and unlike what residents expected, disputed water bills were included.
Mayor Linda Balzotti, who has been taking heat for not directing Thoreson to set aside the disputed water bills, said she has no way of knowing which of the 6,500 liens are disputed bills and if she had pulled some aside she would set herself up for charges of favoritism.
“How do I pick and choose,” Balzotti said.
She said when the audit of the water department is completed residents who should have their bills lowered will be reimbursed for any water bill payments they have made.
Balzotti said there is no way the city could have held off on all 6,500 liens because it represents $8.9 million in revenues to the city.
Balzotti and Treasurer-Collector Brophy said the city gets more than half of the payments in the third or fourth quarter, or about $4.5 million and knowing that could not prudently hold back on the 6,500 liens.
“That money would have to come out of the general fund or we would have to increase water and sewer rates,” Balzotti said. “It would cripple the system,” she said.
She said there is a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on and in hindsight wished she had argued harder to immediately hire The Abrahams Group—which is expected to give recommendations by April-- to conduct an audit of the water and sewer department’s metering and billing systems instead of allowing a request for proposals process advocated by the City Council which added several months to the process.
“My regret is that the audit wasn’t done sooner. We would already have the recommendations,” she said.
Ward 6 City Councilor Michelle DuBois, who has supported residents in their fight over the bills, said she disagrees with Balzotti that the disputed water bills could not have been pulled and wanted to clarify statements in a story earlier this week about the payment plan option for residents.
DuBois said residents need to meet with Thoreson or his staff to have their bills abated and supports the payment plans because it offers residents an option to spread out their payments.
She said while not everyone is happy with the payment plans, at least it is a way for residents to get out from under some large bills and the plans can be changed at anytime.
Ward 2 City Councilor Thomas Monahan said he was unaware the lien notices would be in the third quarter bills and believes the liens could have been set aside for those disputing the bills.
“I think we’re causing more unnecessary problems for people than we have to,” Monahan said.
He said the way it has been handled has made the city “the laughingstock” of the region.
It is unclear what if any action the City Council can take to help residents.
Those like YanceyCato are no longer trusting in the city to help them and will take care of their own interests and have been looking into hiring legal counsel to aid them.
A lifelong resident, YanceyCato said this situation has caused her a lot of stress and has for the first time made her embarrassed to be a resident of Brockton.
She said while some city officials might hope residents will go away or eat payment plans for water they did not use, many are not willing to do that.
“When you start talking about people’s homes people are going to fight,” YanceyCato said.
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON—Brockton residents who have received liens for overdue water bills in this quarter’s property tax bill and refuse to pay the water bill be aware: Unless you specify you want your property tax payment to be applied to the property tax, the city collector’s office will pay the overdue water bill and interest first.
Treasurer-Collector Martin Brophy said the “hierarchy” of payment requires the collector pay the interest and overdue water bill before applying any payment to the homeowner’s property tax.
Brophy said if residents send in their payments it will go to a so-called “lock-box” and the payment will be applied to the overdue water bill and interest first.
If residents do not want their payment to go to the overdue water bill they should include a note within in their payment if mailed, but the best way to ensure the property tax is paid and not the water bill is to visit city hall in person.
“They’re best bet is to come into the collector’s office themselves and tell the clerk at the counter they want the money applied to their property tax,” Brophy said.
Ayanna YanceyCato, a resident with a nearly $17,000 overdue water bill said the word is spreading about the latest hassle in connection with their water bills following the city’s move to attach the overdue bills to residents’ property taxes—a move residents say is a betrayal of promises not to attach the liens and to give them three years to pay the overdue bills if an audit shows they actually used the water.
“What I feel the city did was a back door move—they misled the entire community…I have nothing but pure disgust for this situation,” YanceyCato said.
YanceyCato is only one of about 6,500 residents who received property tax bills this week and learned that the city also included liens—which some city officials are calling special assessments or attachments—for payment of overdue water bills.
The city’s move puts some people in the position of having their mortgage payments balloon because the water bills—which range from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of thousand to YanceyCato’s $17,000 and Robert Ford’s $12,000—unless paid will increase property taxes.
YanceyCato said in the case of this latest billing snafu she is lucky. She does not pay her real estate taxes through an escrow account, but residents who do, experts say, should contact their mortgage lender to try to make arrangements for payments—especially if they refuse to pay the overdue water bill.
“Homeowners should contact the lender directly and explain the situation,” said Richard Wulsin, a real estate tax attorney with Wulsin Murphy LLP in Norwood and Wellfleet and a member of the National Association of Real Estate Tax Attorneys.
Wulsin said the end result with each bank or mortgage holder will be different for each individual homeowner and there is no assurance residents will have a positive outcome.
“What is likely to happen is the lender will pay that balance and if the water bill adds a significant amount it could inflict some real pain on the home owner,” Wulsin said.
He said homeowners will be at the whim of the mortgage company and believes some will work with residents, while other behemoth institutions like Bank of America and CitiCorp will be difficult to deal with because they are so large it will be difficult to change the way their systems pay those escrow accounts.
Wulsin said it is highly unlikely lenders will extend any increases beyond one year because they do not want a lien on the property because a property with a lien cannot be refinanced or sold without a clean municipal lien certificate and effects the lender’s equity in the property.
While city officials are calling the liens special assessments or attachments, Wulsin said it is a “little deceptive” for the city to say this week’s notices are not liens because the property cannot be issued a clean municipal lien certificate to refinance or sell the property.
While these overdue bills—which are for the fiscal year 2009-2010—have not been filed at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds and likely will not until 2012, their impact on mortgage holders is similar.
“It’s a lien,” Wulsin said.
Wulsin, who has followed the issue through TV broadcasts, said the city seems to have its “head in the sand” in the way it has handled the situation and wondered why the water department head has not “taken the bull by the horns” to come to a quick and speedy resolution to people’s problems or to pull aside the disputed bills—a measure other cities and towns have done with success.
He suggested people like YanceyCato and Ford who have significantly large bills should hire a lawyer to protect their interests.
Wulsin also advises that if residents want to eventually take the matter to court they must follow the procedures set up by the city to dispute the bill.
He said the first step is to apply for an abatement with the billing authority, which in this case is the water department and Commissioner Michael Thoreson.
Residents have until Feb. 1—the date when the liens are due to be paid—to apply for the abatement and even residents like YanceyCato and Ford who have already received abatements should reapply because the liens are considered new bills.
He said residents cannot miss the Feb. 1 deadline and any other deadlines because without an abatement hearing—the first step—there is no jurisdiction for an appeal.
“Literally, if you are a day late you might as well be late forever,” Wulsin said.
Wulsin said if the abatement is denied then residents can appeal the bills to the state’s Appellate Tax Board—which has jurisdiction over disputed water bills in certain cases.
Mark DeFrancisco, chief counsel for the Appellate Tax Board, said residents must adhere to the very strict timeline and must follow the process to be able to take the matter to court.
He said if the overdue water bills are paid then an appeal would be in district, superior or small claims court.
If the bill is not paid then the matter is handled at the Appellate Tax Board.
He echoed Wulsin’s comments that the process is very strict on deadlines and can be complicated.
“It’s a morass for people to navigate through,” DeFrancisco said.
Meanwhile city officials are explaining why the liens have been issued and unlike what residents expected, disputed water bills were included.
Mayor Linda Balzotti, who has been taking heat for not directing Thoreson to set aside the disputed water bills, said she has no way of knowing which of the 6,500 liens are disputed bills and if she had pulled some aside she would set herself up for charges of favoritism.
“How do I pick and choose,” Balzotti said.
She said when the audit of the water department is completed residents who should have their bills lowered will be reimbursed for any water bill payments they have made.
Balzotti said there is no way the city could have held off on all 6,500 liens because it represents $8.9 million in revenues to the city.
Balzotti and Treasurer-Collector Brophy said the city gets more than half of the payments in the third or fourth quarter, or about $4.5 million and knowing that could not prudently hold back on the 6,500 liens.
“That money would have to come out of the general fund or we would have to increase water and sewer rates,” Balzotti said. “It would cripple the system,” she said.
She said there is a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on and in hindsight wished she had argued harder to immediately hire The Abrahams Group—which is expected to give recommendations by April-- to conduct an audit of the water and sewer department’s metering and billing systems instead of allowing a request for proposals process advocated by the City Council which added several months to the process.
“My regret is that the audit wasn’t done sooner. We would already have the recommendations,” she said.
Ward 6 City Councilor Michelle DuBois, who has supported residents in their fight over the bills, said she disagrees with Balzotti that the disputed water bills could not have been pulled and wanted to clarify statements in a story earlier this week about the payment plan option for residents.
DuBois said residents need to meet with Thoreson or his staff to have their bills abated and supports the payment plans because it offers residents an option to spread out their payments.
She said while not everyone is happy with the payment plans, at least it is a way for residents to get out from under some large bills and the plans can be changed at anytime.
Ward 2 City Councilor Thomas Monahan said he was unaware the lien notices would be in the third quarter bills and believes the liens could have been set aside for those disputing the bills.
“I think we’re causing more unnecessary problems for people than we have to,” Monahan said.
He said the way it has been handled has made the city “the laughingstock” of the region.
It is unclear what if any action the City Council can take to help residents.
Those like YanceyCato are no longer trusting in the city to help them and will take care of their own interests and have been looking into hiring legal counsel to aid them.
A lifelong resident, YanceyCato said this situation has caused her a lot of stress and has for the first time made her embarrassed to be a resident of Brockton.
She said while some city officials might hope residents will go away or eat payment plans for water they did not use, many are not willing to do that.
“When you start talking about people’s homes people are going to fight,” YanceyCato said.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Duct-tape Robbers Hit Third Store
Staff reportBrocktonPost
BROCKTON--The third robbery in four days where customers or clerks were duct-taped by a silver handgun wielding pair of suspects took place Wednesday night—this time the thieves robbed Tavares Variety on Warren Avenue.
According to one of the victims--who is also an owner who did not want to be identified--said two light-skinned males she described as short, about 5'5 and wearing hoodies or dark masks came in the front door and duct-taped the hands of her 21-year-old son who was in one of the aisles.
The men then went to the front of the store and pointed a silver gun at her and made their way behind the counter and stole cash and then ran out the side door toward the back of the building toward Packard Way.
"They were small, very small, little--I thought it was maybe kids playing around. I heard them come in and make noise and then saw my son being taped and then one pointed a gun at me and then came behind the counter and looked around and took money and then ran out,” she said.
She said robbers spoke broken English.
It is the third robbery this week where clerks or customers were duct-taped during a robbery. It is unclear if any of the heists have been committed by the same two men.
Police could not be reached for comment.
The first robberies took place Sunday about six hours apart. One was at Bud’s Variety at 916 Warren Avenue at about 9:40 a.m. when two light-skinned males who spoke Spanish brandished a silver handgun and duct-taped a customer and clerk. The thieves took $300 and the clerk’s wallet.
Later that same day around 6 p.m. Van's Asian Market at 300 North Montello Street was also robbed when two males speaking Spanish and waving a silver handgun walked in wearing masks duct-taped a clerk’s friend and took all the cash and other items in the store.
Tony Fonseca, who not only owns the building that houses Tavares Grocery, but also owns CJ Beer & Wine adjacent, said he was robbed last February.
"I was closing the store and had my back turned away from the front door and somebody came in and started to hit the back of my head and I turned around and they cut my upper lip with a gun,” he said. “I could put my finger threw the hole in my upper lip," he said as he pointed out the scar.
Fonseca said those robbers were four black males and the one with the gun had a hood on and the other three did not.
"They stole my cell phone and my wallet, keys and cash from the register," he said. "I am sick and tired of this, it has to stop, people are getting robbed during the day. I even have had the gutters of my building stolen, this is crazy, we need to take the streets back," Fonseca said.
Click here for BrocktonPost's story about the first robberies on Sunday...
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Open Meeting Law Complaint Heads Back To AG's Office
BrocktonPostBROCKTON—Four Brockton residents who have filed complaints with the state Attorney General’s Office that claim the Water Commission violated the Open Meeting Law in August believe the city’s response to the charge did not meet the requirements of the law and they are not satisfied with the city’s steps to resolve the issue.
The three-page letter, (pictured above, middle and below can be enlarged by clicking on each) which was sent to the Attorney General Tuesday, Jan. 4 states, “the city’s handling of our complaint does not seem to satisfy the intent of the Open Meeting Law complaint process. We do not know if the Water Commission’s response—via the City Solicitor—is even known to the members of the Water Commission.”
The letter, signed by residents Marianne Silva, Ayanna Yancey-Cato, Robert Ford and Darlene Abramson is a response to a letter sent in October to the Attorney General by City Solicitor Philip C. Nessralla Jr. outlining steps the city and Water Commission would take to resolve residents’ complaints, including Open Meeting Law training for commission members.
It is unclear if this training has taken place or will take place in the future.
Nessralla’s letter states the city has not decided if the commission actually violated the Open Meeting Law when it went into closed session Aug. 30 to discuss personnel issues and instead spent much of the time chastising member Patrick Quinn for speaking with the media.
The letter states the city would decide if board members violated the law after the training sessions.
Marianne Silva said the city’s response and city’s plan to resolve the issue does not meet the requirements of the law, in part because the City Solicitor’s letter was not sent to the four residents who made the complaint--a requirement under the law.
Because the city did not send its response letter to residents, the Attorney General has allowed an extension for the complaintants to respond to the city’s letter and has until Friday, Jan. 7 to ask the Attorney General to review the matter.
The original deadline would have been Dec. 10.
Residents in interviews and letters are adamant and certain commission members violated the Open Meeting Law and requests the Water Commission take a vote in open session acknowledging the law was violated and that members will take part in training to learn the rules and regulations of the law.
For BrocktonPost.com's story about the initial Open Meeting Law complaint, click here...
Click here for BrocktonPost's story about the water issue and Nessralla's letter...
Lien Demands Reignite Water Bill Controversy
By Lisa E. Crowley
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON—Thousands of Brockton residents have received notices in their quarterly water and sewer tax bills that demand owners pay their overdue bills or face liens on their property taxes, even if those bills are being disputed amidst a controversy surrounding the water department’s flawed metering and billing systems.
Many residents are incensed the city would make the move which they called another betrayal of promises made by public officials when it became clear the water and sewer department’s metering and billing systems had gone haywire.
“I have it on video—they said no one was going to get a lien, no one was going to lose their house and then they do this,” said Marianne Silva, one of about 6,500 water and sewer users in the city who received the lien threats with their first quarter bills Monday.
“They didn’t stick to what they said, but why should I be surprised—they haven’t through the whole thing,” Silva said.
Silva and numerous others, including Ayanna Yancey-Cato and Robert Ford have led a fight against the water and sewer bills--bills city officials have admitted are flawed and residents and officials alike are waiting to see the recommendations and data that will be provided by an independent audit firm, The Abrahams Group hired at a cost of $97,000 to sort out the issue.
Those recommendations are not expected to be complete until March or April and in the meantime because of the controversy surrounding meter reading and billing systems, many believed and felt they were promised the city would pull out the disputed bills and hold them aside instead of including the threat of a lien for non-payment.
Silva is one of the lucky ones. She only owes a disputed $500 after receiving an adjustment on a past bill for $2,400 that was reduced to $1,200-an adjustment that was made before Silva knew there was such a widespread problem.
She has fought the bill since the summer and has not paid the remaining $500 and was shocked to see the lien demand for the $500 in this quarter’s bill.
“I’m floored. I didn’t see this coming,” Silva said.
Silva is lucky her disputed bill is only $500.
Yancey-Cato's bill demands $17,000 in the next 30 days or the amount will be added to her property tax. Yancey-Cato initially had a bill for $100,000 that was reduced to $17,000—an amount that Yancey-Cato also contests.
Silva said a $17,000 adjustment on Yancey-Cato mortgage payment--possibly more than $1,000 a month—could very possibly cause Yancey-Cato to lose her house.
“If (Yancey-Cato) used the water and owes it that’s one thing, but we don’t know that—it’s disputed and now there’s a chance she can lose her house. I can’t believe they did this to people,” Silva said.
Mayor Linda Balzotti said the city had no choice under state law to send out the liens and affirms those who have disputed bills will be taken into consideration and disagrees with charges from some residents she has walked away from campaign promises to be on the side of the people.
“I’m not walking away from anyone,” Balzotti said. “When the audit is complete and in due course those that should be corrected will be corrected,” she said.
Balzotti said officials had hoped the audit would be completed by now, but because it is not, the city by state law is required to send out the demand notices.
She said the notices are not liens, but are attachments on people’s property taxes that can receive abatements from the treasurer’s department and do not result in a traditional lien in court.
Balzotti said there is an abatement process and people can contact the water department and treasurer’s office to set up payment plans and when the audit is completed, if it is found people have overpaid, they will be reimbursed.
The amount of liens--estimated at about 6,500 households or $8.9 million--Balzotti said, is not an unusual number and when the audit is completed those bills that need it will be corrected.
Balzotti said some of those 6,500 lien demands are to people who intentionally do not pay the bill for tax write-offs and other reasons, while others are disputed bills.
However, Ward 6 City Councilor Michelle DuBois, who has worked closely with residents since the water bill problem began over the summer, called the payment demand “insidious” and in many cases will change people’s mortgage payments and in some cases could push homeowners into foreclosure situations.
DuBois said even though the City Council over the last few weeks has reimbursed many residents for overpaid bills, a lot of others—especially those that have been vocal and public about their situations—have no confidence in the system or the city.
“They don’t want to tell people what these bills really are. They tell them there might be reimbursements and they can set up payment plans in the hope people will just go away,” DuBois said.
“They want them to sign payment plans, but once they sign that paper to set up a payment plan the bill is no longer in dispute,” she said.
DuBois said while Balzotti and Treasurer-Collector Martin Brophy have said the notices are not liens, homeowners don’t care what the notice is called because no matter how you look at it, the demand, if not paid, will increase their property taxes and therefore increases mortgage payments, often paid through escrow accounts with mortgage companies holding the loan.
“If you own the house it’s one thing, but if you are still paying a mortgage you’re mortgage company is going to adjust that monthly payment and not too many people can handle an increase of $1,000 a month. It’s going to balloon people’s payments and potentially send them into foreclosure,” DuBois said.
DuBois said she has asked several city officials and departments for a copy of the state law that requires the demand notices be sent and has not received one.
Why Balzotti did not require Water Commissioner Michael Thoreson or Treasurer-Collector Brophy to put a freeze on the lien demands—especially for residents with disputed bills--or why Thoreson or Brophy did not do it themselves as best management practices is something DuBois does not understand.
“Other cities and towns have had a moratorium or freeze on similar problems. Why didn’t we do that and then wait until the audit is completed and review these disputed bills and then issue the liens if we need to next year,” DuBois said.
She said many residents are fearful of approaching the water department and Commissioner Thoreson to dispute their bills and understands residents’ frustrations because she has gotten the run-around the same way residents have.
DuBois said she has contacted Thoreson and Treasurer-Collector Martin Brophy to help residents since Monday and was told by Thoreson it was Brophy’s job to issue the liens and when she talked to Brophy, he told her it was Thoreson’s job to send to the collector overdue bills for lien demands and Thoreson’s discretion to pull out those that are disputed. DuBois said she went back to Thoreson who said once the bills went to the collector they can’t come back, but Brophy told her Thoreson could request disputed bills be pulled. (Clarification: After the story posted DuBois further explained that contact with Thoreson was actually through his staff and via email and not phone calls.)
Neither Thoreson or Brophy could immediately be reached for comment.
“It’s all just a way to create a diversion and deflect people away from the real issue at hand—the lack of management, or mismanagement or even possibly corruption surrounding these bills,” DuBois said.
DuBois expects to meet with the leaders of the disputed bills this week in preparation for a larger meeting with everyone and anyone who has a dispute or problem with their water and sewer bills at the end of this month.
Silva echoed DuBois’s sentiment that many residents have little faith in city officials to resolve their bills and are in the process of exploring their legal options and await an audit they don’t expect will help them at all.
“There’s no logic when it comes to the water department,” Silva said.
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON—Thousands of Brockton residents have received notices in their quarterly water and sewer tax bills that demand owners pay their overdue bills or face liens on their property taxes, even if those bills are being disputed amidst a controversy surrounding the water department’s flawed metering and billing systems.
Many residents are incensed the city would make the move which they called another betrayal of promises made by public officials when it became clear the water and sewer department’s metering and billing systems had gone haywire.
“I have it on video—they said no one was going to get a lien, no one was going to lose their house and then they do this,” said Marianne Silva, one of about 6,500 water and sewer users in the city who received the lien threats with their first quarter bills Monday.
“They didn’t stick to what they said, but why should I be surprised—they haven’t through the whole thing,” Silva said.
Silva and numerous others, including Ayanna Yancey-Cato and Robert Ford have led a fight against the water and sewer bills--bills city officials have admitted are flawed and residents and officials alike are waiting to see the recommendations and data that will be provided by an independent audit firm, The Abrahams Group hired at a cost of $97,000 to sort out the issue.
Those recommendations are not expected to be complete until March or April and in the meantime because of the controversy surrounding meter reading and billing systems, many believed and felt they were promised the city would pull out the disputed bills and hold them aside instead of including the threat of a lien for non-payment.
Silva is one of the lucky ones. She only owes a disputed $500 after receiving an adjustment on a past bill for $2,400 that was reduced to $1,200-an adjustment that was made before Silva knew there was such a widespread problem.
She has fought the bill since the summer and has not paid the remaining $500 and was shocked to see the lien demand for the $500 in this quarter’s bill.
“I’m floored. I didn’t see this coming,” Silva said.
Silva is lucky her disputed bill is only $500.
Yancey-Cato's bill demands $17,000 in the next 30 days or the amount will be added to her property tax. Yancey-Cato initially had a bill for $100,000 that was reduced to $17,000—an amount that Yancey-Cato also contests.
Silva said a $17,000 adjustment on Yancey-Cato mortgage payment--possibly more than $1,000 a month—could very possibly cause Yancey-Cato to lose her house.
“If (Yancey-Cato) used the water and owes it that’s one thing, but we don’t know that—it’s disputed and now there’s a chance she can lose her house. I can’t believe they did this to people,” Silva said.
Mayor Linda Balzotti said the city had no choice under state law to send out the liens and affirms those who have disputed bills will be taken into consideration and disagrees with charges from some residents she has walked away from campaign promises to be on the side of the people.
“I’m not walking away from anyone,” Balzotti said. “When the audit is complete and in due course those that should be corrected will be corrected,” she said.
Balzotti said officials had hoped the audit would be completed by now, but because it is not, the city by state law is required to send out the demand notices.
She said the notices are not liens, but are attachments on people’s property taxes that can receive abatements from the treasurer’s department and do not result in a traditional lien in court.
Balzotti said there is an abatement process and people can contact the water department and treasurer’s office to set up payment plans and when the audit is completed, if it is found people have overpaid, they will be reimbursed.
The amount of liens--estimated at about 6,500 households or $8.9 million--Balzotti said, is not an unusual number and when the audit is completed those bills that need it will be corrected.
Balzotti said some of those 6,500 lien demands are to people who intentionally do not pay the bill for tax write-offs and other reasons, while others are disputed bills.
However, Ward 6 City Councilor Michelle DuBois, who has worked closely with residents since the water bill problem began over the summer, called the payment demand “insidious” and in many cases will change people’s mortgage payments and in some cases could push homeowners into foreclosure situations.
DuBois said even though the City Council over the last few weeks has reimbursed many residents for overpaid bills, a lot of others—especially those that have been vocal and public about their situations—have no confidence in the system or the city.
“They don’t want to tell people what these bills really are. They tell them there might be reimbursements and they can set up payment plans in the hope people will just go away,” DuBois said.
“They want them to sign payment plans, but once they sign that paper to set up a payment plan the bill is no longer in dispute,” she said.
DuBois said while Balzotti and Treasurer-Collector Martin Brophy have said the notices are not liens, homeowners don’t care what the notice is called because no matter how you look at it, the demand, if not paid, will increase their property taxes and therefore increases mortgage payments, often paid through escrow accounts with mortgage companies holding the loan.
“If you own the house it’s one thing, but if you are still paying a mortgage you’re mortgage company is going to adjust that monthly payment and not too many people can handle an increase of $1,000 a month. It’s going to balloon people’s payments and potentially send them into foreclosure,” DuBois said.
DuBois said she has asked several city officials and departments for a copy of the state law that requires the demand notices be sent and has not received one.
Why Balzotti did not require Water Commissioner Michael Thoreson or Treasurer-Collector Brophy to put a freeze on the lien demands—especially for residents with disputed bills--or why Thoreson or Brophy did not do it themselves as best management practices is something DuBois does not understand.
“Other cities and towns have had a moratorium or freeze on similar problems. Why didn’t we do that and then wait until the audit is completed and review these disputed bills and then issue the liens if we need to next year,” DuBois said.
She said many residents are fearful of approaching the water department and Commissioner Thoreson to dispute their bills and understands residents’ frustrations because she has gotten the run-around the same way residents have.
DuBois said she has contacted Thoreson and Treasurer-Collector Martin Brophy to help residents since Monday and was told by Thoreson it was Brophy’s job to issue the liens and when she talked to Brophy, he told her it was Thoreson’s job to send to the collector overdue bills for lien demands and Thoreson’s discretion to pull out those that are disputed. DuBois said she went back to Thoreson who said once the bills went to the collector they can’t come back, but Brophy told her Thoreson could request disputed bills be pulled. (Clarification: After the story posted DuBois further explained that contact with Thoreson was actually through his staff and via email and not phone calls.)
Neither Thoreson or Brophy could immediately be reached for comment.
“It’s all just a way to create a diversion and deflect people away from the real issue at hand—the lack of management, or mismanagement or even possibly corruption surrounding these bills,” DuBois said.
DuBois expects to meet with the leaders of the disputed bills this week in preparation for a larger meeting with everyone and anyone who has a dispute or problem with their water and sewer bills at the end of this month.
Silva echoed DuBois’s sentiment that many residents have little faith in city officials to resolve their bills and are in the process of exploring their legal options and await an audit they don’t expect will help them at all.
“There’s no logic when it comes to the water department,” Silva said.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
State Reups Fire Safety Money For Brockton, Others
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON--Brockton, Easton and West Bridgewater fire departments have been awarded grant money totaling $21,745 from the Student Awareness of Fire Education, or S.A.F.E program through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
State Representative Christine E. Canavan announced yesterday in a prepared statement the three communities would receive funding through the annual program.
This year, the Brockton Fire Department will receive $11,515; the Easton Fire Department will receive $5,415; and the West Bridgewater Fire Department will receive $4,815 to continue their fire education programming.
Established by the legislature in 1996, the S.A.F.E Program is a state initiative that was created to provide resources to local fire departments to conduct fire and life safety education programs to children in grades K-12 and members of the community. Its mission is to enable students, and all residents, to recognize the dangers of fire, as well as the fire hazards of tobacco products.
“The S.A.F.E Program is a great example of a true—and time-proven—partnership between the Commonwealth and local fire departments that has had an extraordinary impact on protecting our children, families and communities,” Canavan said in the prepared statement.
BROCKTON--Brockton, Easton and West Bridgewater fire departments have been awarded grant money totaling $21,745 from the Student Awareness of Fire Education, or S.A.F.E program through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
State Representative Christine E. Canavan announced yesterday in a prepared statement the three communities would receive funding through the annual program.
This year, the Brockton Fire Department will receive $11,515; the Easton Fire Department will receive $5,415; and the West Bridgewater Fire Department will receive $4,815 to continue their fire education programming.
Established by the legislature in 1996, the S.A.F.E Program is a state initiative that was created to provide resources to local fire departments to conduct fire and life safety education programs to children in grades K-12 and members of the community. Its mission is to enable students, and all residents, to recognize the dangers of fire, as well as the fire hazards of tobacco products.
“The S.A.F.E Program is a great example of a true—and time-proven—partnership between the Commonwealth and local fire departments that has had an extraordinary impact on protecting our children, families and communities,” Canavan said in the prepared statement.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Similar Robberies at Bud's Variety, Van's Asian Market
By Lisa E. CrowleyBrocktonPost
BROCKTON—A clerk and a customer at Bud’s Variety at the corner of Nilsson Street and Warren Avenue Sunday morning were waved to the ground at the point of a silver handgun by a skinny, Spanish-speaking man with lots of freckles on his face.
A clerk who works for the family that operates the store and would not give his name said robberies at the corner convenience store are becoming as commonplace as regular paying customers.
“It’s happens all the time,” he said. “Not twice, but three, four, five, six times—You can’t count. It’s much worse than anywhere else that I’ve been,” said the man, who is about 40 years old and originally from India.
He said he has worked in stores in Lynn and Beverly and has had nothing like the countless robberies at Bud’s.
He said he has been to court and sometimes the police catch the suspects, but other times they do not.
He said he is shocked at how often it has happened at Bud’s and blames drugs, bad parenting, parents on drugs and people’s desires for things they want and not wanting to work for them as the reasons for the number of robberies at his store.
“They need to push all the bad people into the Atlantic—get rid of them,” he said. “I never would have thought I would see something like this in America—it’s not poverty, the government gives food, we have plenty of food—you want to see poverty go to India,” he said.
The latest robbery, according to the Brockton Police log, happened Sunday morning, Jan. 2 at about 9:40 a.m. when the clerk and a customer were made to lie on the floor of the tiny store.
The freckled robber held a gun on the clerk and customer as they lay on the floor while an accomplice--another Hispanic-looking man described as heavy-set and wearing a mask--tied the clerk and customer’s hands with duct tape.
The robber’s stole about $300 and the clerk’s wallet.
The customer was described as a black male, about 6 feet, 4 inches tall. The man left the store once the robbers left.
The clerk told police he did not recognize either of the robbers—both estimated as between 25 and 30 years old and wearing black-hooded sweatshirts.
The clerk also told police he did not recognize the customer involved in the robbery.
The Bud’s Variety robbery came hours before a similar robbery at Van's Asian Market at about 6 p.m. Sunday.
Police reported Van's Asian Market was also robbed in a similar fashion Sunday when two males walked in wearing masks and took all the cash.
A witness told police the robbers brandished a handgun and spoke Spanish as they told her they didn't want to shoot her and not to look at them. The witness told police the men duct-taped her friend and told the witness to get down on the floor and not to look.
It is unclear if the witness was also duct-taped.
The two Sunday robberies differ from another that took place Thursday, Dec. 30 at about 2:40 p.m. at Cumberland Farms, 984 Main St., when a white male described by police as in his early 30’s, told a clerk at the store to hand over money if he did not want to be shot. A gun was not shown and after grabbing a handful of cash from the register ran out of the store up Willow Street.
Police arrested Anthony J. Gaultier, 23, of S. Easton and charged him with armed robbery following the call.
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