Tax Collector Delays Laid to Mistakes and Training

Poor training, employee errors and inadequate staffing in the Los Angeles County treasurer-tax collector’s office contributed substantially to months-long delays in answering and correcting taxpayer problems, according to a county audit.

A six-month review by the auditor-controller concludes that while the treasurer-tax collector has made progress in reducing a huge backlog of correspondence, more than 12,800 inquiries from taxpayers questioning their property tax bills remain unanswered.

For taxpayers, that means an average four-month wait from the time the county receives an inquiry letter to the time the treasurer tax-collector responds, according to the report, despite the fact that the department standard is 30 days.

For tax service firms or financial institutions that may represent individual or corporate clients, the lengthy turnaround time is even worse--an average of eight months between the time an inquiry is received until the department replies.

Major Concern

“This is our major area of concern,” admitted Sandra R. Tracey, the county’s treasurer tax-collector, when asked about the audit. “But we’ve made significant progress in reducing the backlog of correspondence.”

The audit, which also calls for “more and better trained staff” for the treasurer-tax collector, was forwarded Friday to the Board of Supervisors, which itself has reported receiving taxpayer complaints. Distressed over bureaucratic snafus and lengthy delays in resolving tax disputes, the supervisors today will consider a proposal to investigate whether the county should establish a one-stop center to improve handling of taxpayer inquiries.

“What we’re trying to say in our report is that these are major problems that can’t be solved overnight,” said Mark H. Bloodgood, the county auditor-controller. “There have always been complaints from taxpayers, but it seems to have been mounting over the years.”

Currently, three different departments--the auditor-controller, the assessor and the treasurer-tax collector--have various roles in the property tax system. But the treasurer-tax collector, as the most visible of the three, has received the brunt of complaints from taxpayers.

Shared authority among the three departments is to blame for some of the confusion among taxpayers, Tracey said. She added that the sheer volume of property tax bills her office sends out each year--a staggering 2.1 million--and the complexity of the tax system have also increased the number of taxpayer complaints.

“Given that, I think we’ve made significant strides,” said Tracey, who said her department has implemented some of the recommendations contained in a previous audit, including better training for employees.

But while the auditor-controller agreed that the department has improved its handling of taxpayer concerns and acknowledged that taxpayers themselves must share some of the blame for tax problems, the report also cited “controllable errors” by county workers.

Mistakes, including check encoding errors, key-punch errors and errors reading handwritten bills, have resulted in property tax “exceptions” or problems.

“In spite of the treasurer tax-collector’s efforts, a substantial number of errors and (problems) still occur, resulting in an unyielding high volume of taxpayer correspondence and phone calls,” the report says.

The auditor-controller observed that even though the treasurer-tax collector has committed more staff members and installed a special telephone system last year to handle taxpayer calls, “the department still cannot handle the thousands of taxpayer calls, resulting in continuing complaints from frustrated taxpayers trying to contact the department.”

That frustration has been directed not only at the treasurer-tax collector’s office but also at the assessor’s office, which applies the appropriate tax rates on property and determines the actual taxes.

“I must say I don’t hear anything good about Los Angeles County’s property tax system,” said Arch Hardyment, president of the Los Angeles Taxpayers Assn. “I hear a lot of complaining from our members, a lot of grousing.”

Although most of the complaints are made privately, The Times last week detailed the case of a Santa Barbara man who, for the last several years, had been trying to pay his taxes on property he owned in Los Angeles County.

Despite numerous letters, phone calls and a personal visit to the treasurer-tax collector’s office over the last two years, J. Peter Houlberg did not hear from the department and never received his actual tax bills until after a reporter began inquiring about his case.

The department eventually agreed to accept his payment of $8,267.64 and waived nearly $3,000 in penalties after admitting that the county had consistently failed to record his change of address.