Beaumont’s political saga has taken a new twist, as the city’s foundation was reported to the IRS for not having filed paperwork for non-profit, tax-exempt status. The strange part of this newest development is that it was a sitting city council woman who reported the alleged tax fraud.

This is just the latest in a series of mini-scandals to have played out publicly. PublicCEO reporter Lance Howland published two stories, City Manager: Critical Website Is ‘A Good Learning Experience’ and Ruling Strikes Complaint Against Citizens Group And Its Critique Of City Government, over the last year, as the story developed. A third story was run by PublicCEO in September of last year.

In this case, the City Council Woman never verified with the City Attorney whether or not the foundation needed to file paperwork. He claims that because the foundation is related to a government entity, it is thereby tax exempt.

From the Beaumont Patch:

Beaumont Councilmember Nancy Gall filed a complaint Monday with the Internal Revenue Service alleging the Beaumont Charitable Foundation, formed in June 2009, never filed appropriate paperwork with the IRS, the state Attorney General or the Secretary of State, Gall said Monday night.

The City Council serves as board of directors for the Beaumont Charitable Foundation, and City Manager Alan Kapanicas and Finance Director Bill Aylward oversee the charity, Gall said.

“If you file the right papers you have a legitimate charity, but if you don’t, you don’t have tax-exempt status,” Gall said. “I don’t know why they wouldn’t do this – they have a city attorney who is supposed to know the details on this.”

Read the full article here.