Senator Carper Works with IRS to Improve Services in Dover IRS Office

DOVER, DE (March 11, 2005) – Thanks to the work of Senator Tom Carper, staffing problems at the IRS office in Dover have been alleviated for the time being. This week, Senator Carper called Mark Everson, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, to encourage him to resolve a staffing issue that has closed the Dover IRS office over the past few weeks. This problem has inconvenienced a number of Delaware residents who have driven to the IRS office looking for help during tax season. Many constituents have called the senator’s staff over the past month about the problems in the Dover office, which has sometimes been left unattended for hours or even days. During the busiest tax time of the year, constituents were understandably frustrated with the intermittent and unannounced closures of the IRS office. On March 7th, Senator Carper and Congressman Mike Castle faxed a joint letter to Commissioner Everson. Senator Carper then promptly contacted and spoke with Commissioner Everson to resolve the issue of the IRS’s short-staffing and declining services in Dover. Commissioner Everson gave Senator Carper a commitment during their conversation that the situation would be dealt with immediately. As a result of the joint letter and the phone call, the Senator spoke with the Commissioner on March 8th, and a decision was made to have an employee from the Georgetown IRS office staff the Dover office until a more permanent solution could be made. As of this morning, the staffing issues seem to have been resolved and the Dover IRS office is now open, true to the word of the Commissioner. “Constituent relations is one of the most important aspects of public service,” said Senator Carper. “After speaking with Commissioner Everson, I feel confident that the Dover IRS office will, once again, be able to provide quality services to the residents of Kent County. During tax filing season, our citizens have a right to expect their local IRS offices to remain open and provide quality public service.” Excerpts of the March 7th letter Senator Carper and Congressman Castle sent to Commissioner Everson is below: “We would like to take this opportunity to bring a disturbing situation to your attention. We have been receiving an alarming number of complaints about the Dover, Delaware office of the IRS. This office provides services to many of our Kent County constituency who, especially during tax season, have an increased need for assistance from your agency. It has been brought to our attention that the Dover IRS office is seriously under-staffed. It is our understanding that there is an employee on leave of absence in the Dover office and this leaves only one employee to handle the volume of constituents who come and go throughout the day. We also understand from our Dover staffs and constituents that the Dover office is repeatedly closed for hours at a time and sometimes even for an entire day. We both maintain offices in the Frear Federal Building in Dover and it is important to us that Delawareans who visit this building are receiving the adequate service from every federal agency. If the reports we are receiving on the Dover IRS are accurate, it poses a considerable inconvenience to Delaware taxpayers and we feel strongly that they are entitled to better service from the IRS. We hope that you will take immediate action to ensure that the Dover IRS office provides the same quality of service as the other IRS offices in the state.”