Former Elyria Mayor Bill Grace facing misdemeanor tax return charges

Former Elyria Mayor Bill Grace has been charged in Elyria Municipal Court with failing to file income tax returns with the city for six straight years, from 2015 through 2020. Grace said Friday that he is "behind in some paperwork with the city" and that he plans to get the matter resolved with the court next week. "It's basically a paperwork thing," he said. "It'll be squared away by next week." Municipal Court records made it appear that Grace has a warrant out for his arrest, but an Elyria Police Department spokesman said Friday that the warrant was not in a police database and had apparently not been signed by a judge. Grace, 58, is facing six first-degree misdemeanor charges in a case originally filed April 15. The court sent Grace a certified letter the same day, informing him of the charges and set an arraignment date for May 17. He didn't appear in court that day, and records state the letter was returned unclaimed. Another summons was issued June 3, and a second arraignment date set June 14. When Grace failed to appear for that hearing, court records state that Judge Gary Bennett issued a bench warrant for Grace's arrest on June 24. Elyria police spokesman Capt. Phil Hammonds said Friday his department didn't have such a warrant in its database, probably because the judge hadn't signed it. But if it is signed, "we will go out and serve it," he said. A message was left with Bennett's office Friday. Grace was the Democratic mayor of Elyria from 1999 to 2011. He was defeated for reelection by Holly Brinda in the 2011 Democratic primary. Grace ran for mayor again as an independent in 2019 against Brinda, by then a two-term incumbent, and Frank Whitfield, the independent and political newcomer who eventually won the election. Elyria is a member of the Regional Income Tax Agency, which collects income taxes for more than 300 cities and villages in Ohio. Elyria Law Director Amanda Deery said Grace was charged under the city ordinance, which mirrors Ohio law. Deery said RITA notifies the city's Office of the Finance Director when people don't pay their taxes, and the matter is handed over to prosecutors in her office for review. If the matter can't be resolved, "ultimately charges may be filed," she said. RITA hands over "thousands" of records each year, but the capacity of Elyria Municipal Court and city prosecutors to handle them is limited, she said. "We probably handle several hundred (such charges) a year, but if resources were infinite, there could be thousands," Deery said. Prosecutors therefore limit the failure-to-file cases they take to court to those taxpayers who have missed multiple years of filings, as opposed to those who pay consistently but maybe missed a year in between. "The ones charged criminally, there are many of them, but it's a small slice of potential ones," Deery said. First-degree misdemeanors can be punishable by up to six months in jail and $1,000 in fines each, but Deery said the city's goal is "compliance, not punishment." Sometimes the cases are dismissed if the taxpayer makes right what they owe. "We're not seeking any sort of fine above and beyond that," Deery said. "(We're) just trying to get people straight with RITA." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com or on Twitter @daveobrienCT.