The U.S. State Department says federal law requires the collection of a passport fee and does not allow someone authorized to collect that fee for the federal government to grant exceptions to the rule regarding "execution fees."
That response came from an official with the State Department in response to an inquiry from the Monroe County Attorney.
A copy of the federal agency’s letter was provided by Monroe County Clerk Adam Bello, who says it shows that the former county clerk and now Monroe County Executive, Cheryl Dinolfo violated federal law by waiving passport fees for selected individuals.
Bello previously has said that more than 600 people had been given waivers on passport or pistol permit fees since 2008.
On Tuesday, Dinolfo issued this statement:
"During my tenure in the Clerk’s Office, concurrent with my record of returning over $30 million to taxpayers, I continued the longstanding policy that spanned over many County Clerk’s administrations of issuing fee waivers as a way to provide high level customer service. Now that the State Department has rendered clarification, it is my expectation that the current County Clerk will abide by them going forward."
The letter from the U.S. State Department official says that agency will review the information from the county attorney and “determine whether further action is warranted.”
Bello, a Democrat, was appointed to the county clerk’s job earlier this year after Dinolfo, a Republican, was elected county executive. He faces Republican Cheryl Rozzi for the county clerk position in the November election.
