DEAR WAYNEDALE READERS
I am pleased that $1.6 million in tax refunds were received by working families as part of the City’s Money in Your Pocket Campaign through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. EITC is a tax benefit for lower income working individuals.
This is the third year the City has helped working families receive tax refunds. The program has seen an increase in participation and refunds each year. In 2003, $250,000 was returned to the local economy. In 2004, the total was just over $1 million.
The numbers from the EITC are fantastic, but the people behind the program are phenomenal. Johnny Wunderlich and Marianne Maraovich with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) drove to Fort Wayne from Indianapolis several times a week during tax season to head up a coalition of local agencies and volunteers for the Money in Your Pocket Campaign. Thanks to the RSVP Volunteer Center for scheduling volunteers throughout the community to make this a very successful year. This was the coordinating organization for the coalition and coordinated activities and volunteers for all sites.
Some sites, such as the Wayne Township Trustee office, had volunteers open their office on Saturdays because they understood how important it was to the clients to have this tax preparation service. The Benito Juarez Center and the CANI-Salvation Army site not only had tax preparers, but also translators to help those with limited English skills. Indiana Business College and IPFW trained accounting students to help prepare tax forms for many of the sites. East Wayne Street Center and the Urban League had evening programs so area residents didn’t have to go far to file tax returns.
The CANI-Lake Avenue site served as the hub of the coalition and processed and transmitted all of the documentation for all of the local EITC sites. First Call for Help/United Way and the Mayor’s Office answered phone calls and directed residents to the closest site for tax preparation.
There are faces behind the coalition that are just as important to the Money in Your Pocket Campaign. John Lock, a private accountant, and Cal Marker, a paid intern, moved from site to site to deliver supplies, fix computers and transport transmittal tapes. The Purdue Extension Office, Vincent House, Project Renew, and local bankers offered financial literacy classes to EITC applicants to show them how to use tax refund checks as a springboard to homeownership or other long term goals.
The coalition is already planning for next year, which will kickoff Martin Luther King Day weekend in January, 2006. In the meantime, the coalition is looking for volunteers, and donations of supplies such as computers, printers and paper. For more information, contact my office at 427-1111.
Graham Richard
Mayor
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