News editor
A large red sign in the window of Cindy’s Family Café proclaims in bold script, “Patience is such a waste of time.”
The Kansas Department of Revenue agreed Monday, as department personnel and Marion police put up two new yellow signs with one word dominating the rest: “SEIZED.”
The doors are locked and contents subject to public auction because owner Cynthia Taylor owes the state $12,859 in sales tax, a KDOR news release said.
“Officers seized all known bank accounts, on-site cash, business inventory and personal property assets,” the release said.
It’s the second time in less than a year KDOR has seized the restaurant. It was closed last June when $7,411 remained unpaid from an $11,070 tax warrant filed in 2013, but reopened when Taylor received assistance to settle the debt.
The current action alleges Taylor didn’t remit sales taxes to KDOR from October 2013 through August 2014, as well as missing an October 2014 payment.
The restaurant could reopen if Taylor can satisfy KDOR’s demands by paying the bill or agreeing to a payment plan, KDOR public information officer Jeannine Koranda said.
“If they are able to do that, they’re allowed to reopen,” she said. “The goal is always to get them into compliance and get the taxes paid.”
Those negotiations are done with a KDOR tax agent that has some discretion in tailoring a plan for individual circumstances, Koranda said, and there is no standard timetable for putting a plan in place. An auction is the last resort if no settlement is reached.
“The agents are always working with the main office,” Koranda said. “I do know that there have been businesses that have been closed for a fairly significant amount of time that have reopened.”
One of Taylor’s employees has set up a GoFundMe site Monday on the Internet, asking for donations toward a goal of $15,000 to settle the bill. As of Tuesday afternoon, no donations had been made.
Multiple calls placed to Taylor’s cell phone for comments about the action went unanswered.