Former state tax director asked to leave; reasons unclear

A senior state tax official has left her position at the Department of Revenue and the reasons are unclear. Until late last week Colleen Glover was director of the Division of Tax, one of the most sensitive positions in state government.

A spokesperson for the department said the agency does not comment on personnel matters. Jeff Landfield, publisher of the political blog Alaska Landmine, first reported Glover’s separation from the state late last week.

Glover was asked to leave, accord to sources.

Brandon Spanos, deputy director in the division, is now acting director. Glover has held the position since 1018, when Gov. Mike Dunleavy was first elected. She joined the revenue department in 2016.

As tax director, she supervised collections of hundreds of millions of dollars yearly in tax payments by oil and gas producers as well as audits of tax returns filed by producers.

She was also responsible for all other state tax collections including fisheries and motor fuel taxes as well as marijuana and insurance taxes.

Glover also supervised assessments and collections of the state petroleum property tax which included navigating sharp disputes over property valuations involving producers, pipeline companies and oil shippers as well as with politically influential municipalities affected by oil property tax decisions, including the North Slope Borough and city of Valdez.

One highly contentious issue on Glover’s plate involved owners of the Point Thomson gas and condensate field on the North Slope. ExxonMobil Corp. and Hilcorp Energy, the major owners at Point Thomson, had differences on the tax assessments of producing properties with the North Slope Borough, the regional municipality, as well as the state.

Legislative leaders, speaking on background, said they will review the circumstances of Glover’s departure because of the importance of her position.

They will be interested in whether decisions by Glover and those under her may have rankled some of the parties in the North Slope litigation. Internal tensions within the revenue department may also have played a role in her departure.

Sources have reported disagreements with Fadil Limani, a former North Slope Borough finance manager who was named last March as deputy commissioner under Commission Adam Crum.

Glover is also known to have views on state tax and fiscal policy voiced internally, such as the need for a broad-based state tax as a new revenue source, that were contrary to positions of her boss, Gov. Mike Dunleavy.