Brian Metzer Mellon Bank

Deeds Recorded -- July 3, 2011

East Cocalico Township Ernest C. Shupp conveyed property on East Swartzville Road to Lili M. Dippner and Brandon J. Dippner for $180,000.

Timothy J. Mace and Janitza Mace conveyed 23 Buckwheat Drive to Timothy J. Mace for $1.

David E. Witmer and Gwendolyn J. Witmer conveyed property on Woodland Springs Drive to Doran L. Witmer for $65,000.

Beneficial Mortgage Co. of Pennsylvania, Beneficial Consumer Discount Co. and LPS Asset Management Solutions Inc. conveyed property on Stony Run Road to Shawn M. Martin for $155,000.

West Cocalico Township The estate of Stephen M. Billett conveyed property on Chapel View Drive to Craig P. Moore and Kay L. Moore for $121,000.

Brian Degler conveyed property on Village Spring Lane to Michael A. Greenwood and Christina J. Greenwood for $157,000.

Chad Hurst conveyed property on a public road to Stanley T. Prince II and Jennifer R. Prince for $193,000.

Columbia Borough Sheriff of Lancaster County, Joseph M. Williams and Barbara A. Williams conveyed 23 N. Ninth St. to Federal National Mortgage Association for $4,931.

Sheriff of Lancaster County and Charles Messersmith conveyed 228 Lawrence St. to Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. for $2,801.

Edward J. Orodeckis conveyed property on a public road to New Heritage Building LLC for $282,000.

Frances M. Jensen conveyed 939 Chestnut St. to William M. Nies and Evelyn E. Nies for $90,000.

Luther W. Smith and Dorothy K. Smith conveyed 733 Walnut St. to Bryan Tyson for $101,000.

Conoy Township Catherine W. Aument conveyed property on a public road to Derek M. Hollister and Jennifer L. Hollister for $140,000.

Charlotte A. Lowe, Charlotte A. Haines and Raymond Haines conveyed 116 Maplewood Lane to Justin M. Stahl and Courtney E. Stahl for $102,000.

RAC Closing Services LLC conveyed 697 Florin Ave. to John R. McCafferty for $185,000.

Autumn M. Fortney and Autumn M. Strock conveyed 121 Chelmsford Drive to Elizabeth J. Marin for $124,000.

unbossed.com » The REAL costs of privatization

Several years ago, the IRS ran an experiment with private debt collectors. It was a very, very expensive experiment, one whose lessons we have yet to learn. Among the problems that came out of that experiment were Mellon Bank employees destroying tens of thousands of taxpayer documents and some $1 billion in tax payments.

Calculating the real costs of privatization

Way too many bean counters take way too restricted a view of the costs and benefits related to privatization. It is not just a narrow question of dollars paid to those who collect tax debt for dollars into the treasury.

The Mellon indictments are a good example of the need to get realistic and accurate in accounting for costs and look more broadly. The events that connected with that indictment, the cost of the investigation and prosecution, the cost of incarceration, the cost in hassles to the taxpayers who payments were destroyed - these are real costs that get ignored by the usual bean counting techniques.

So here is a quick overview of the issues related to the Mellon indictments.

In 2005, the NTEU described the events that led to the indictments :

Washington, D.C.—The criminal indictments of six former employees of one of the nation’s major banks sharply underscores the danger to taxpayers in current plans by the Internal Revenue Service to turn over tax debt collection to private contractors, the leader of the union representing tens of thousands of IRS employees said today.

“As this case shows, there is no doubt that privatizing tax collections puts the personal and sensitive information of taxpayers at serious risk,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

She called the case “only one example of the inability of the IRS to provide adequate oversight of its contractors,” and added: “If anything, this agency ought to be fighting for adequate resources to allow its present workforce to do their jobs, and should be sharply cutting back on the number of contractors it uses.”

Kelley has been leading the fight against an IRS plan to hire private sector debt collectors to pursue tax debts in exchange for a bounty of up to 25 percent of the money they collect. Despite the failure of such a program nearly a decade ago, and the rising incidence of identity theft across the country, Congress authorized the tax debt privatization program last year. Implementation is planned for this summer.

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