Failure to pay the IRS the proper withholding taxes for city employees resulted last fall in Cape Coral facing more than $400,000 in penalties and interest levied by the federal tax agency.
City officials—who this month announced an investigation into the issue, including into City Manager John Szerlag, who had already announced plans to retire this year—wrongfully blamed Shannon Drouin, a payroll clerk at the time, for the payroll mess, Drouin said.
Drouin says she was scapegoated, and she and her family are leaving Cape Coral. In an exclusive interview with WINK News, she said she went to work 14 months ago at a payroll department that was poorly managed, that she was doing the work of three people with no or inadequate training or guidance and that she was blamed unfairly for mistakes and problems that she is not responsible for. Drouin left city employment in September.
Earlier this month, the city council approved investigations into the matter by the Florida Law Enforcement Agency and a private investigator firm.
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