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Helping Hand or Cover Up - YOU DECIDE!! As previously reported by this website, a town resident may lose her home as a result of a mistake made by Town Tax Clerk, Mrs. C. Cole. It seems Mrs. Cole gave incorrect information to a mortgage company based on a name rather than a section, block and lot number. The mortgage company paid the amount. It was later discovered that the information given to the mortgage company was incorrect. This resulted in the mortgage company paying the incorrect amount and then having to pay the correct amount to avoid a tax lien on the property. Unfortunately for the town resident, she is paying for the mistake as her escrow account payments are now $500 a month more until the matter is resolved. How town officials responded to this situation is very interesting. One month prior to the airing of this story on Cable 6 news, the town board took up the issue. The town board meeting of 7/15/08 discussed the situation and passed a resolution. The minutes of the meeting have Supervisor Razzano attempting to explain the situation. Here is the explanation taken directly from the town’s website: 
The above does not reflect exactly what happened or what was reported by Cable 6 or The Times Herald Record. Razzano claims that the name given to Mrs. Cole, by the mortgage company, was listed on only one parcel in the town. It appears Mrs. Cole did not ask for the section, block and lot number, and that is or should be standard operating procedure for any request. Razzano omits the fact pointed out in The Times Herald Record article that the mortgage company, when paying the bill, used the correct section, block and lot number. Why was this not picked up by Mrs. Cole? Why were these facts left out of Razzano’s explanation? Razzano makes note of the fact that the house was listed in the maiden name (Andrea Wimbert not Andrea Housell). This sounds like an attempt to blame the victim. What difference does it make if a woman keeps her name on the deed and mortgage after being married? Taxes are paid on section, block and lot numbers, not solely a name. The Times Herald Record article indicates that the taxes were sent with the correct section, block and lot number. Real property tax director for Orange County was quoted as saying “The bank sent the wrong amount of money to them (town) and the tax collector (Cole) applied it to the wrong account.” How do you apply it to the wrong account when the information sent with the payment is correct? The explanation states the books were closed and all the money turned over to the county. The town request that Orange County refund the amount to the mortgage company real property tax director of Orange County was quoted as saying “ Our hands are tied. If the bank makes a mistake its up to the bank to correct it.” How can the bank or in this case the mortgage company correct the mistake? Our elected Tax Collector, Mrs. Cole made the mistake, not the bank. She made mistakes with this transaction twice. The first one giving information based on a name only. The second was by not looking at the section, block and lot number which accompanied the payment. The article quoted Mrs. Cole as saying “she’s never had a problem like this.” It seems very odd that Razzano’s explanation never once mentions fellow Republican Mrs. Cole’s mistakes. He never once even mentions her name, let alone her obvious incompetence. He prefers to mention the bank and home owner who he insinuates are the ones responsible for the errors. The tax director, a Republican county official, blames the bank for sending the wrong amount and claims it is up to them to correct. He claims the tax collector only applied the payment to the wrong account. The responsibility for this entire matter rest on the shoulders of our elected Tax Collector Mrs. Cathy Cole. She alone did not ask the mortgage company for the correct information before quoting the amount of taxes due. She did not read the correct section, block and lot numbers and credited the payment to the wrong account. Why do her fellow Republicans on the town and county level refuse to acknowledge her obvious mistakes? Why the cover up? If the town truly wished to help this woman why did they not do the correct thing? The amount of $5,684.18 should have been returned immediately to the mortgage company. The exact amount should have been taken from Mrs. Cole’s salary and returned to her when the county released the funds. The person responsible, certainly not the victim, should pay for any mistakes.
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