Some Sharon residents got a disconcerting surprise in the mail this week when they received notices saying they were delinquent in paying their wage taxes and the bills had been sent to a collection agency.

The reason they weren't paid, some residents said, was that they never received a notice that the taxes were due.

Kim Parquette lives on McClure Avenue and said she got a letter saying her tax bill was sent to a collection agency and legal action would be taken against her and her husband if their wage tax bill is not paid within 10 days.

"I never got a card or a late notice," Mrs. Parquette said.

She said she started going door to door on McClure and Wengler avenues and found at least 10 people who never received their tax bills, which are printed on postcards.

One of those people is Debora McKelvey.

"I'm the type of person who pays my bills when they come in. I didn't really think of it (the wage tax bill)," Mrs. McKelvey said of not receiving a card. She too received a letter saying if she didn't pay her bill within 10 days she would face legal action.

Mrs. McKelvey said she immediately went to the city building and paid her taxes, including the late fee.

Though it is the responsibility of residents to pay their taxes -- whether or not they receive a card -- Mrs. McKelvey said she thinks it's strange that so many people didn't get their cards.

"I really don't know what happened," city Treasurer Rick Fragle said. He said at least 10 or 11 people have contacted his office to say they never received their tax bills in August.

Generally if a resident doesn't get a card through the mail it's sent back to the city, Fragle said. He said the city didn't get back any cards.

The city did post a notice in The Herald informing residents that the tax cards were mailed and residents should contact city officials if they didn't get theirs, Fragle said.

Sandra Krantz lives on Wengler. She said around the time the tax cards were sent, many people in her neighborhood didn't get their mail. She said one of her neighbors didn't receive birthday cards, some of which had money in them. Mrs. Krantz said she didn't get other pieces of mail like bank statements and reports from her health care insurer.

Mrs. Krantz said she was aware taxes were due and paid them although she never got a card.

"What happened to that mail that nobody received?" she asked.

Dave Hochadel, Sharon postmaster, said he's not aware of any specific problems with the mail last August. He said he received some calls at the time and a call this week.

"It's really impossible to tell at this point what may have happened," he said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at:
kgarrett@sharonherald.com

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