LANCASTER, Pa. -- Not too many people enjoy paying taxes but an audit of the former tax collector’s records in one Lancaster County borough reveals some taxpayers paid more than they should have paid.
The Lancaster County controller took a look at the books for Denver borough’s former tax collector, and found about $3,500 unaccounted for in the audit.
Lancaster County Controller Brian Hurter said "we don’t know where it went. Our concern is going through the audit, we saw the money coming in, we did not see the money getting distributed. We look at what is the ending bank account, the ending bank account is significantly less than what we feel the ending bank account should be."
Denver borough manager Michael Hession said "our taxes that were due to the borough, they were fine, they matched out. These were other payments that may have been made to the tax collector in sort of a duplicate type payment or if someone paid more than what they were required to pay."
Hurter has a few questions for Denver borough’s former tax collector, Brian Weaver, who resigned at the end of 2016.
"We sent a follow up question to him, looking for additional information, helping us understand that transaction or understanding how that transaction happened, and we were not provided with... we were provided with very minimal follow up information," Hurter said.
Denver businesses and homeowners also may have a few questions of their own, as the audit shows some taxpayers may have paid to much, not enough, or at all.
"We want to make sure we do things the way we’re supposed to do things. The public needs to feel confident in the fact that they’re paying any bill, taxes to our tax collector, or if they’re paying here to the borough, that those monies are being collected and processed accordingly," Hession said.
"If that money was not turned back over to them, not turned over to the county or borough, that money should still be sitting in the account, That money is not in the account, and that’s where our questions come from," Hurter said.
The Lancaster County district attorney’s office is looking for answers.
"We just want to make sure people know what that route is, that if they do think they have an issue, we could try to help them coordinate with the organizations that would be able to get them some type of relief," Hession said.
FOX 43 News reached out to the former Denver tax collector, Brian Weaver to hear his side of the story, but have not heard back as of yet.