By Kelly Foreman
A Berea company has “failed and refused” to pay the city its required payroll tax fees, according to a lawsuit filed in Madison Circuit Court.
Central Kentucky Land Surveying Inc., 1048 Ace Drive, Berea, is named as the plaintiff in the suit. According to the complaint, the company has withheld the 2-percent payroll tax from its employees, but has “failed to file the required employer returns beginning with calendar year 2001.”
Berea Mayor Steve Connelly said multiple efforts were made to sort out the lack of payments and record filings, but after years of dealing with the problem, the suit was filed Oct. 25.
“I did not personally handle the negotiations, but the upshot was that it was a fruitless attempt and the promises were empty,” Connelly said. “This has been going on for four or five years. The company was given every benefit of being able to cooperate and work it out and this is just an absolute last resort to get compliance.”
In addition to not paying into the city collected payroll tax fees, the lawsuit alleges the company also did not submit its net profits license fee returns as required by the Berea City Code.
“Any business, profession or occupation within the city shall file a return with the finance officer setting for the gross income deductions and calculations necessary to report net profits for the proceeding tax year,” the lawsuit reads.
As detailed in the Berea City Code, the city has authority to “examine the books, papers and records of any employer or licensee to determine the accuracy of any return, or if no return was made, to ascertain the amount of license fee imposed.”
The resulting request made in the suit is for the company to allow Berea’s finance officer or other agent to review Central Kentucky Land Surveying Inc.’s records to determine the amount owed to the city and to require it to pay that amount in addition to any penalties, interest, court costs and attorney fees.
Connelly said he has no way of knowing how much money the company owes the city because the city has never had access to the company’s records and does not know how many people are employed by the company.
“The further egregious part of this is that they’re apparently withholding it from the employees and not paying it in,” Connelly said.
The company has 20 days after it has been served with the lawsuit to reply. As of Thursday, Connelly said he was not aware of any response from the company. Attempts to call the company for comment on the lawsuit went unanswered.
Connelly said the city has not had any other companies refuse to comply with the requirements of the payroll tax to the degree Central Kentucky Land Surveying Inc. has allegedly refused.
“It’s usually the result of something being overlooked,” Connelly said. “A business not being aware that the accountant didn’t file something. Most are quite willing and quickly correct it when it is brought to their attention. This is by far an aberration.”
Kelly Foreman can be reached at kforeman@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.
