A Cayuga County department head and one of his clerks were arrested today for their roles in a scheme that enabled the clerk to illegally receive money while she was on county time, a sheriff’s investigator said. Real Property Tax Services Director Alan P. Kozlowski and tax clerk Tammy M. Schramm were each charged with two misdemeanor counts of receiving...
A Cayuga County department head and one of his clerks were arrested today for their roles in a scheme that enabled the clerk to illegally receive money while she was on county time, a sheriff’s investigator said.
Real Property Tax Services Director Alan P. Kozlowski and tax clerk Tammy M. Schramm were each charged with two misdemeanor counts of receiving unlawful gratuities, Inv. Joseph Weeks said.
Kozlowski, 62, of 4917 West Lake Road, Auburn, and Schramm, 36, of 2745 E. Brutus St., Weedsport, were released and are to be arraigned on the charges on July 28. Both face up to a year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, Weeks said.
Kozlowski did not take any money but fostered the arrangement for an unnamed assessor to pay Schramm “a relatively small amount of cash’’ to do some personal work for him at the county office, Weeks said.
“The heart of the issue is that this was done on county time,’’ Weeks added.
Kozlowski did not return a telephone message. He was suspended from his job with pay a couple weeks ago and Schramm will probably be suspended, county Legislature Chairman Peter Tortorici said.
Tortorici declined further comment other than to say Kozlowski and Schramm would remain county employees pending the outcome of their criminal cases.
The county started an investigation last month after officials learned that an unnamed town assessor paid Schramm on April 8 and April 27 to input his assessment information into the county’s computerized property records, according to Weeks.
Another employee who was also working was offered the same deal but refused to take any money, Weeks said.
The assessor, who was responsible for putting in his information into the county’s computerized tax records, did nothing illegal, Weeks said.
You can reach Scott Rapp at srapp@syracuse.com or 289-4839