Fox said he and Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf will introduce legislation this month to give people a choice of whether to elect or appoint a tax collector - a move that almost certainly will provoke fierce opposition from tax
collectors, the vast majority of whom are elected.
The bill would require the state Department of Community Affairs to conduct an on-site financial and performance audit twice each year in first-class townships of 50,000 or more residents. There are six of those, according to the DCA, including Abington and Lower Merion in Montgomery County. DCA does not now audit local governments.
"This is a step in the right direction to protect taxpayers' money and restore confidence in the system," Fox said. The bill would "increase oversight, accountability and information so there'll be an early warning system."
The proposed bill also would give taxing agencies, such as a municipality or school district, the right to reconcile financial accounts monthly with a tax collector-treasurer. And it would let people write their checks to the taxing body, such as the township, rather than the individual tax collector.
Charles Hoffman, chief of DCA's municipal statistics and information division, said taxing agencies now have the right to inspect their tax collector's books at any time. The tax collection law, he said, does not specify to whom a tax payment must be written.
Weitzman denounced the position of treasurer as "a clever steppingstone for an aspiring politician." He said the existing method of collecting taxes was outdated and inefficient.
He proposed letting people file for real estate and school taxes with their state income tax returns and having real estate taxes deducted from paychecks, the way income taxes are.
