Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
The winner of the Martinsville revenue commissioner’s race in the Nov. 3 election apparently will be the candidate who voters think will provide the best customer service to taxpayers.
That is because duties of the constitutional office, which involve assessing taxes, are determined by the state, and there is little leeway in administering them, according to the candidates for the four-year term.
Local businessman John T. Carter is challenging incumbent Commissioner of the Revenue Ruth Easley. Carter never has held an elected office. Easley has been commissioner for seven years and worked in the commissioner’s office for a total of 11 years.
Only constitutional officers’ posts are up for grabs in the city election, and the commissioner’s race is the only one being contested. In the other races, the incumbent is running unopposed.
Carter, 54, of Beechnut Lane, owns seven area H & R Block tax preparation offices. He also has worked as a controller at several local companies. He is a graduate of Martinsville High School and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from Elon College.
Easley, 46, of Oakdale Street, worked as a bookkeeper for small businesses and was a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill before she began working in the commissioner’s office. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Carter said he is running because he thinks the commissioner’s office should be “run like a business,” with more emphasis on quality customer service.
People he knows who have visited the commissioner’s office encouraged him to run, claiming they had received bad service, he said.
He added that he has had “a couple of bad experiences” with staff in the commissioner’s office, but not with Easley herself.
For instance, Carter said, “I got tired of hearing ‘because we can’ when (an employee was) asked, ‘Why do you do it that way?’”
It is “just the attitude of the office” that mainly annoys him, he said.
Easley said she frequently receives feedback from customers that “they are thrilled with the service they get from our office,” such as when complicated tax policies have been explained in ways they understand.
Whenever she hears a compliment about one of her employees, she makes a notation of the compliment in that employee’s personnel file, she said, adding that she has made many such notations.
“Nobody likes paying taxes. I don’t like paying taxes,” Easley said. But “we do take the extra time (with customers) to explain the assessment process and how it fits into the city’s revenue stream.”
“I think that goes a long way” in calming irate customers, she said, even if they are not always happy with what they are told.
Easley said she is willing to listen to any ideas people have for improving customer service.
As a provider of service, she said, “you may be good, but there always is a way to improve what you’re doing.”
Easley has been a certified master commissioner of the revenue since 2003. As a master commissioner, she takes continuing education courses and tests every year that help her stay abreast of developments in her profession and changes in tax laws. Out of 128 revenue commissioners in Virginia localities, she is one of 42 with master commissioner certification, she said.
She said that during the past eight years, she has worked to make city tax forms easier to understand, as well as made frequently used tax forms and information on tax assessments more accessible to the public via the city’s Web site at www.martinsville-va.gov.
Easley said she has worked with the Martinsville City Council to create and modify tax exemption programs to give people financial incentives to make new investments in the city, especially people who otherwise might not be able to afford such investments.
For example, the council — with Easley’s backing — recently adopted an ordinance enabling property owners who substantially refurbish residential, commercial and industrial structures to get tax credits for five years.
Easley pledged that if she is re-elected, she will continue making herself and her staff available to answer the public’s questions about federal and state income taxes, work with other city departments to ensure revenue streams remain constant to fund vital services and ensure that tax assessments are equitable so “you only carry your fair share of the local tax burden.”
Carter said he would like to see the revenue commissioner’s office use state Department of Motor Vehicles information for personal property tax records. That way, it would eliminate forms that people have to fill out, he said. |
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