Evidently the Park District accountant on Vashon Island is psychic, but not too psychic, when it comes to the poor performance of staff that, oops, forgot to pay taxes. On the one hand, accountant Marie Browne “believes that staff then did not purposefully commit the oversight” of not paying taxes that were due for renting district property. Yet she is able to balance that belief with the admission that “she does not know why such an oversight occurred.”
A question that might be asked, if it was Ms. Browne’s own money instead of taxpayer dollars that were involved – if you don’t know why something happened, how do you know it wasn’t done on purpose? Of course, if that happened, then somebody might have to get in trouble, rather than just passing the buck (or the bill, in this case).
Park district owes thousands in back taxes after state audit
The Vashon Park District owes nearly $25,000 in sales tax and interest after years of mismanagement. The district “failed to pay sales tax for its vacation rentals at Fern Cove and Point Robinson”, as well as rental equipment and merchandise.
