Dealing with the municipal bureaucrats downtown has been difficult for Sherry Bronfman, ex-wife of Seagram heir Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Her name turned up recently on a list of property tax delinquents even though she told me she went in person to the Department of Finance and paid the bill weeks ago.
“It’s a pain. I can’t even begin to tell you. This is so upsetting,” the mother of three — who appeared as Sherry Brewer in the 1971 classic movie “Shaft” — told me.
The taxes, adding up to about $100,000, were due on the Riverside Drive townhouse where she raised her kids Ben, Vanessa and Hannah. Ben is a musician who has a son with the rapper M.I.A.; Sherry’s daughters are actresses.
Unlike most plutocrats, Sherry doesn’t delegate to personal assistants and business managers.
“I come from humble beginnings: the South Side of Chicago. I’ve never functioned like that,” Sherry said.
“I went down [to the Department of Finance] myself and gave them a check. They assured me I’d be off the list. The people could not have been nicer.”
Sherry wishes she could straighten things out on the telephone. “You cannot call. It’s impossible,” she said. “The system is really messed up. It’s a nightmare.”