Archive: Around Town

Last year many people complained about school tax collection.  There were problems, not the least of which was late deposits that meant lost interest for the Lansing school district.  Town Board members Connie Wilcox and Matt Besemer thought they could do something this year to help the school district and improve the situation.  "We wanted to make it convenient for taxpayers whether it be school district, town, county, whatever," Wilcox says.  "We felt it was a service to the town that we wanted to provide, so we did.  We had the facilities to do it, found the personnel.  It all worked out well."


They offered to contract to collect the taxes for the schools, using the small courtroom in the Town Hall, the expertise of Town Clerk Bonnie Boles, and hired Pat Balzer and Shelby Rose to provide consistent, friendly service.  "I like people, and really enjoyed the people coming in," says Rose.  "It was really nice working here.  We worked well together, and everything went smoothly."  It went so well that town and school officials gathered Monday morning for coffee and bagels and to honor the two.

The two retirees were hired to collect the taxes during September and October.  For the first month they worked together most of the time, then took turns as the rush to pay petered out in October.  They collected much of the money in person, and also processed payments sent by mail, depositing the money each day.  

Taxpayers came steadily during the day with a busy period later as people got off of work.  Boles, who is the Town tax collector as well as Town Clerk, supervised the two and was on hand to answer questions.  "Bonnie has been invaluable to us," Balzer says.  "Everybody has been so wonderful."  The feeling was mutual.  "You came in and it was like you just fit in immediately," said Town Personnel Officer Sharon Bowman.  "You're like part of the team now."

Wilcox says Balzer and Rose have the right personalities for the job.  Both are upbeat, and didn't take people's natural feelings about taxes personally.  "My favorite part was working with Shelby," says Balzer.  "I love people.  I love the interaction of it."  People stopped to talk when they payed, and often the topic was school taxes.  "There were a lot of comments about the taxes," Balzer says.  "Shelby got a phone call one day where the man was quite nasty.  But other than that they were nice."

Balzer says the most surprising thing was how many people paid their taxes with cash.  "Not a lot of people paid in cash, but quite a few," she says.  "And large amounts of cash.  I was surprised.  Bonnie had told us of one gentleman who came in a couple of years ago and paid with unrolled pennies.  We didn't get that!"

(Left to right) Matt Besemer, Steve Farkas, Connie Wilcox, Sue French, Shelby Rose, Larry Lawrence, Bonnie Boles, Pat Balzer

Town Board members Steve Farkas, Bud Shattuck, Connie Wilcox, and Mat Besemer were on hand to honor the two, as well as Boles and other Town officials.  School Business Administrator Larry Lawrence and Treasurer Sue French represented the school district.  "I am very appreciative," Lawrence said.  "We enjoyed the interaction of working with the township, and you are wonderful people."

Wilcox says that the Town and School District have a gentleman's agreement to repeat their arrangement next year, and Lawrence says the likelihood of that is high.  "It's been a wonderful boon for the school district," he says.  "We didn't have any comments or problems."

Besemer and Wilcox presented the women with an Award of Excellence certificate from the Town of Lansing and a certificate of appreciation.  French presented them with Bobcat Paw pins.

Wilcox says that she hopes Rose and Balzer will be available for the job next year, and both say it was an experience that they would enjoy repeating.  "I've been retired for seven years, so it was really good to get back out and have a job again for a while," says Rose.  "It was a very nice part time job."

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