Tax collector under fire for altering check

1
321
Jim Goggin

NAUGATUCK — Tax Collector Jim Goggin is facing potential discipline from the borough after altering a woman’s check she wrote out to pay her car taxes.

Erika Crabe wrote a check for $373.70 for her car taxes and dropped off the payment at the tax collector’s office in Town Hall last Wednesday. When she balanced her checkbook on Sunday, she noticed the check was changed and deposited for 20 cents more, $373.90.

Crabe said she went to her bank on Monday. Workers at the bank agreed the check had been altered, refunded her the 20 cents and gave her a copy of the check, she said.

Crabe said she was sure someone in the tax collector’s office altered the check and returned to office to question who it was. She said Goggin admitted to her it was him.

“It’s not about the 20 cents. It’s not about that at all. … My whole thing is the principle of it,” Crabe said.

Goggin, who has been tax collector for just over 10 years, said he altered the check, but at the time he thought he was helping Crabe.

“My mistake was 100 percent trying to help her,” Goggin said.

Goggin said checks are run through a scanner every morning to balance the deposits. After running the group of checks that included Crabe’s, the balance was off 20 cents, and the deposit slip showed, incorrectly due to a data entry error, that Crabe owed an additional 20 cents, he said.

Goggin said he altered the check to avoid sending Crabe a bill for 20 cents and having it come back late.

“It was truly what I believed, at the time, was to help her,” he said.

Goggin said it wasn’t until Crabe returned on Monday that he realized she didn’t owe the additional 20 cents, and the amount she owed was incorrectly registered. He said he returned the 20 cents and apologized.

Goggin said he has altered checks in the past for amounts under 25 cents. He said it’s a mistake that will never happen again.

“It wasn’t my decision to make even if it was a penny,” he said.

Crabe said there is never any reason to alter someone’s check. She said she is floored and blown away that Goggin not only altered her check, but has done it before.

“That’s crazy to me,” she said.

Crabe said she wants people to know about what happened. She said a lot of people may not review their checking accounts, or if they see a minor mistake, they may think they made it.

“If it happened to somebody else, I would want them to let me know about it,” she said.

Crabe brought the matter to the mayor’s office after talking with Goggin.

Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess said the issue was immediately looked into and verified by Controller Robert Butler.

“I will say that the employee, Jim, stepped up to the plate, admitted everything,” Hess said. “We never had to investigate. It wasn’t a question of he said, she said.”

The borough’s annual audit started on Monday. Hess said the auditors were made aware of the incident so they can look for other discrepancies, if they exist, as they do the audit.

Hess said Goggin was given a written reprimand and the issue was referred to human resources to review for further discipline.

Exactly what discipline Goggin might face remains a question.

The tax collector is an elected position, which means the position is not a direct employee of the borough and doesn’t work under a union contract. Union contracts spell out disciplinary procedures for employees, who face escalating punishments for disciplinary issues.

“Notwithstanding that, we determined that the actions were inappropriate and wrong and will be subject to discipline,” Hess said.

Hess added Goggin’s personnel record as tax collector has been good and he is an “upstanding citizen.” He said all factors will be taken into account.

“Whether or not any further discipline can be imposed by law is being reviewed by our counsel, and then we would decide, at a later date when we have all the information, what, if any, further action is necessary,” Hess said.

Crabe feels the borough should do a complete audit of the tax collector’s office.

“The only thing that’s going to make people, and me, feel good about this is a full-scale audit,” she said.