Countywide

San Diegans with touch-tone telephones can now retrieve property tax information electronically through a computerized telephone system that was activated Friday.

The system allows callers to phone the county’s property tax information bank 24 hours a day, seven days a week, County Treasurer-Tax Collector Paul Boland said. The telephone system is expected to relieve congestion at the county building, where staffers handled 110,000 personal inquiries about property tax matters during 1989.

Callers will be able to get tax bill information by entering the assessor’s parcel number on their touch-tone telephone. Callers can use one of three numbers: 236-2424 in San Diego, 480-6075 from inland North County, or 944-3701 from coastal North County.

“Persons who do not have a touch-tone phone or who do not wish to use the system should continue to use the regular property tax information number listed in the government section of all local telephone directories,” Boland said.

Boland estimated that the new service will handle up to 60% of the calls for property tax information. Designed by Data Acquisition Services in San Marcos, the system is one of the first of its kind in the United States.