Tax money claim filed
After months of math by York County Treasurer Barbara Bair, the county has filed an insurance claim saying former Spring Garden Township tax collector Melissa Arnold misappropriated $297,000 in tax money.
That amount covers funds county officials say are missing for three taxing authorities: York County, York Suburban School District, and Spring Garden Township.
Earlier this month, county solicitor Mike Flannelly sent a claim letter detailing Bair's findings to Travelers Bond & Financial Products, the insurance company that bonded Arnold. Tax collectors are bonded to insure the money they handle.
The money not turned over to the taxing authorities includes $305,000 from the school district, about $1,500 from the county, and $962 from the township, according to the bond claim summary submitted by Flannelly. Bair said about $10,000 that had been frozen in Arnold's accounts at the launch of an investigation was subtracted from the total when submitting the claim.
Arnold has not been charged with a crime.
She appointed a replacement after police began an investigation into whether she had deposited township checks into at least one personal account and withdrawn a "substantial" amount of the money, according to search warrant-related documents.
State police in October 2009 searched Arnold's former home and office on Leafydale Drive and retrieved computers, bank account records, credit cards, monthly tax collection records and other items, according to the doc-
uments.
A state police spokesman said the investigation was turned over to the FBI. An FBI spokeswoman said she could not confirm whether Arnold is under investigation.
Attempts to reach Arnold, who no longer lives at her former address, were unsuccessful. An attorney who had been representing Arnold said he is no longer her attorney.
In-depth review: Flannelly said it took months to organize the claim because the review involved nearly every taxpayer in the township.
"There's no record of some people paying, but that could be because they didn't pay or that it wasn't accounted for, so that takes some time," he said.
Bair said she had to sift through all records from 2009, reviewing more than 10,000 tax bills on 5,000 properties.
There were about 350 parcels for which the disposition was unclear, and those taxpayers were asked to provide proof of payment, she said.
The municipalities are awaiting a response from the insurance company, Flannelly said.
Travelers spokeswoman Jennifer Wislocki said the company doesn't discuss "individual claim situations," and she could not provide a timeline for resolution of the claim.
--Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436, ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com, or follow her on Twitter at @dispatchbizwiz.
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