Clausi: Firing was justified

SUNBURY - Northumberland County Commissioner Vinny Clausi said mismanagement of the county's tax claims bureau that allegedly resulted in the loss of thousands of dollars in tax money prompted the recent firing of department director Pat Yasenchak and caused county officials to restructure the office.

"Politics had nothing to do with her firing, and I take offense to claims that it did," Clausi repeatedly said during a 30-minute interview Monday afternoon with local newspaper reporters. "I did what's right for the people of Northumberland County because we lost a lot of tax money owed to us due to mismanagement by office personnel. Pat Yasenchak is a good person and a very nice woman. She wasn't solely responsible for the significant problems we uncovered, but as the department director for the past six years, it was her responsibility to correct the problems and bring them to our attention, which she never did until we questioned her about them."

He added, "As a commissioner, I have a responsibility to the people of this county to eliminate any mismanagement going on in the county."

Yasenchak was fired Nov. 20 by the commissioners. At the time, the only reason given for her firing was that the county wanted the tax claims bureau to "go in a new direction."

When asked why he wanted to specify the reasons for Yasenchak's firing more than a week later, Clausi responded, "Because I wanted the public to know it wasn't for political reasons and that money was lost due to mismanagement in that office."

Jan Nestico of Kulpmont, a former fiscal technician for the county's juvenile probation department who previously applied for the budget director's position, was hired to succeed Yasenchak. Nestico, who began her new job Monday, was hired at a salary of $31,858.

Clausi said personnel in the tax claims bureau failed to properly file proof of claims for property owners facing bankruptcy. Attorneys file a proof of claim when their clients are entering bankruptcy. The claims must include what years taxes are owed by their clients and for what amount.

The tax claims bureau is then responsible for sending the proof of claims to bankruptcy court and the attorneys representing the bankrupt clients. A copy of the proof of claim also is kept on file at the tax claims office.

When contacted Monday, Yasenchak denied Clausi's accusation that the claims were not properly filed. She said her office followed the proper procedure in filing the claims.

According to Clausi and assistant county solicitor Kymberley Best, who are primarily responsible for discovering alleged major problems in the tax claims office, some proof of claims were never filed while others were not completed correctly.

By failing to file the proper or complete paperwork, Clausi said the county missed out on thousands of tax dollars owed on the properties.

"We found out that some of the properties on the sales list still had the owners being listed as bankrupt on our computer system," Best said. "But most of those people are no longer bankrupt, which means we didn't get any tax money from them and weren't able to put them back on the tax rolls."

Best said some of the problems were initially uncovered by former county solicitor Hugh Jones after the county conducted its first judicial sale in eight years that generated approximately $477,000 through the sale of 128 properties. Jones was solicitor when the sale was conducted, but has since been appointed magisterial district judge in Mount Carmel.

Thus far during their probe, Clausi said $40,000 in unclaimed taxes has been found.

"We only went through about 1 percent of the paperwork involved in that office (tax claims bureau)," Clausi said. "Some of the 12 files we've reviewed date to 1999. This is only the tip of the iceberg. This is a shame for the residents of Northumberland County who pay their taxes."

In addition to losing out on much-needed revenue, Best also said two individuals whose former properties were sold during the judicial sale plan to sue the county because they weren't given sufficient notice by the tax claims office that their properties were up for sale. "They are claiming their due process rights were violated," Best said.

Yasenchak said the assessment office is responsible for sending tax bills to property owners.

Best said the county hopes to reach a financial settlement with the property owners to avoid going to court.

"The tax claims bureau, which generates between $500,000 and $600,000 in revenue per year, is one of the most important departments in the county," Best said. "Now, with what we've uncovered, the commissioners plan to restructure the entire office. There wasn't anything criminal being done here. I just think some people were incompetent or just didn't do their jobs correctly."

She added, "First, we must assess the whole situation to see how bad it is. Then, we have to reorganize and hire a temporary paralegal to sort out the paperwork. We also need to purchase an updated computer system and provide more efficient cross training with the employees in the tax claims and assessment offices. By county code, we need to keep those departments separate, but I think we must do some restructuring that calls for both departments to be under one large office."

Commissioner Kurt Masser, who previously reserved comment about Yasenchak's firing since it was a personnel matter, said he needs more information about the problems that occurred in the tax claims office before making a statement.

Masser reportedly did not sign the paperwork calling for Yasenchak's firing.

Commissioner Frank Sawicki, who signed the firing papers with Clausi, said the county code calls for the commissioners to be accountable for tax office collections. He stated, "We need to comply with accounting standards and we need to make sure all money owed to us is properly received and disbursed."

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