She disclosed that the department’s accountant, Connie S. Agulto, is now the new treasurer.
Asked what happened to the former treasurer, Antoinette Calvo, Larson said she was suspended.
She declined to divulge the reason saying they don’t discuss personnel issues in public.
The department, she added, is now improving the efficiency of processing transactions.
Many people call the department to follow up so she wants to make sure that as soon as people give them the documents the department needs, Finance can tell right away when to come back and pick up checks.
Larson said she does not want to see people going back and forth, asking about their papers and how long the process is going to take.
She cannot tell exactly what Finance is going to do because they are dealing with very limited funding, but Larson said “I think we need to restructure, reshuffle and look at those issues.”
Larson would like to speed up the process so they can pay vendors if funding is available.
“It is basically to clear up backlogs and just move things through quicker,” she added.
Larson said she was very happy that the House of Representatives passed a Senate bill raising the salary of the Division of Revenue and Taxation director, a post that remains vacant.
It is very hard to attract a good candidate with very low salary, she added.
Rev and Tax has a lot of responsibilities and she thinks that its director should be adequately compensated.
Senate Bill 17-51, which is now back in the Senate, raises the director’s salary from $42,000 to $50,000.
Larson said she believes it will still be difficult to attract applicants at the new rate “but I think we will have a better chance of finding the right person.”
The Rev and Tax director’s position, she added, is not just about qualification — it is also about “specialization.”
Dealing with taxes, she said, “is not something you learn tomorrow by opening a book. It is a very specialized area and to find an able director, we need to offer incentives.”
Larson said the salary of “everybody employed by the Finance” is very low. Yet everyone in the department is expected to take care of the financial affairs of the entire government.
But “we are dealing with very limited funding so I can’t just give everyone a raise,” she added.
