Saturday, April 08, 2000
Consultant owed city back taxes
Firm handling FWW
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
During the three years Fred Craig planned, designed, and supervised one of the largest road projects in Cincinnati's history, the city was prosecuting him for failing to pay city earnings taxes.
But the people he dealt with on the Fort Washington Way project didn't know anything about it, and say today that it wouldn't have made any difference.
Mr. Craig, who is vice president of Parsons Brinckerhoff Ohio, owed the city more than $7,750 in back taxes for nearly a decade. He repaid the amount last year, and said Friday that earlier payments were not properly credited.
The debt was a result of Mr. Craig's failed business, Landmark Management, which folded in 1990. That year, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge for not paying the earnings tax he withheld from his employees' paychecks.
Mr. Craig was given five years' probation, during which time he was supposed to pay the debt, and a three-month jail sentence, which was suspended.
Court records show he did not repay the amount until Dec. 2, 1999.
John Deatrick, Cincinnati's transportation director, said he was aware that Mr. Craig had some financial problems in the past but didn't know about the back taxes owed.
Mr. Deatrick said he is happy with the job Mr. Craig has done on Fort Washington Way. He said there is no city policy that would have prevented Mr. Craig from being lead consultant on the project because of the outstanding debt.
“I would have liked to have known about it,” Mr. Deatrick said. “I would have asked him
to pay it off immediately.
“If he had no plans of paying it off, then that might have been different.”
The Hamilton County Probation Department thought Mr. Craig had no plans to pay the debt in 1996, when they violated his probation for “willful failure to pay city income tax.”
A warrant for Mr. Craig's arrest was issued at that time, but police did not actively search for him.
Meanwhile, Mr. Craig was active with Downtown Cincinnati, Inc., and was quoted in newspaper articles and featured on television news programs.
Mr. Craig says he did pay off the taxes, and that a paperwork error kept the debt on the books.
“There were other partners in this. They bailed, I didn't,” Mr. Craig said of his company. “I took it as a personal responsibility to pay as many of the bills as I could.
“It's my opinion that I double-paid the taxes,” he said. “But I do a lot of work for the city, so when they said I still owed the money, I decided just to pay it again.”
Probation officials say they have no record of Mr. Craig ever making a payment for the 1990 case.
Parsons Brinckerhoff, with Mr. Craig in the lead, has been a valued consultant in many other riverfront development projects, including parking issues and The Banks development plan.
This week, Hamilton County commissioners chose Parsons to be the taxpayers' watchdog during construction of the Reds ballpark.
Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said Mr. Craig's tax problems wouldn't have swayed his vote for Parsons.
“Personal issues need to be han dled by the individual and the city tax department,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “In my mind, we were hiring Parsons Brinckerhoff — part of that is the work product delivered by Fred Craig.
“I have found Fred Craig to be personally responsive to every issue I've had surrounding riverfront development and on top of every issue I've talked about with him.”
Parsons Brinckerhoff is an international company with annual revenues of more than $700 million. It is a 115-year-old company that helped build New York City's subway system.
Mr. Craig, who is in charge of Parsons' Cincinnati office, first became involved with riverfront planning through Downtown Cincinnati Inc's transportation committee.
The city appeared ready to pull the trigger on a $40 million Band-Aid for Fort Washington Way. It was Mr. Craig and others on DCI who had bigger dreams for the thoroughfare.
Parsons voluntarily provided sketches to the city of an expansive revamping of the highway. The sketches also went to the business community and the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.
By 1997, Parsons was positioned to become the city's lead design consultant and engineer for the project.
“Many people were unhappy with Fort Washington Way,” Mr. Deatrick said. “Fred brought the engineering piece of what was possible, and he was able to deliver on that. He played a very key role.”
And the project, which would ordinarily take seven or eight years to complete, had to be finished in two. It is on target to be done on time and on budget.
Holiday tradition goes on auction block
Winter returns for a day
Teachers must have lots of heart
City's policy on OT questioned
Consultant owed city back taxes
Council barred from meeting in secret
Bengals' ticket guarantee fought
Mooney will head state teachers union
Murder suspect ends standoff
Quints' sleep-deprived parents still smiling
Sculptures in sand made at aquarium
New warning sirens cover most of Kenton County
No tolerance for zero tolerance
Peace Bell soon to be rung daily
Inmate's aunt held in scheme
Student council money missing
UC-Ohio State cooperation stressed at board meeting
GET TO IT
Passionate conductor inspires CSO players
Reserve time for Cincinnati Flower Show lectures, teas
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
Another sad chapter in Hamilton
Community march scheduled for Easter
Denied phone call, county inmate sues
FBI to check killers' history
Governor's home in need of repairs
Mallory wants charter school data released
Monroe board to be decided
Parents rally fight over board
Police to look into blank tape
Purple Heart chapter started
TRISTATE DIGEST
