Property Tax Bureaucratic Nightmares

Re “Home Lost Over Tax Bill of $546,” Feb. 17: I believe legislation is required to rein in the tax collector so this will not happen again to anyone in L.A. County. Taking Terrell Dotson’s home for the paltry sum of less than $600 owed is an egregious act by bureaucrats unrestrained in their tactics.

Just trying to contact anyone in the tax collector’s office is a frustrating nightmare. You are put on hold, shuttled from one unanswered phone to another, and in the end never get a satisfactory answer to your questions. Many times you end up talking to the same person you first talked to when you called, only to be placed on the same merry-go-round for another time-wasting experience. I sincerely hope Dotson gets his condo back; but more important, bring the tax collector’s office into compliance with common decency and courtesy to the people it is supposed to serve.

Thomas Joyce

Pasadena

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After I purchased my home, the county sent a special-assessment tax bill, not to my mortgage company for my impound account, or to my current address, both of which I had properly listed in the paperwork, but to my previous address. Imagine my surprise when, after living in my house for seven years, I received a notice that the county was going to auction my house for unpaid taxes. Unlike the tax bill, the notice of auction was sent to me correctly.

Immediately upon receiving the notice, I tried to contact the county. I was continually referred to another person. Finally, I was told that the county acknowledged its mistake but makes no allowance for tax bills it sends to the wrong address; I was just supposed to know about each bill, special assessment or not, and pay it. It was clear I was being treated like a deadbeat taxpayer, and I was getting the runaround.

I am an energetic person, and I was determined to fight this thing, especially when I discovered all the penalties added to the original bill. I can’t imagine someone of less vigor, such as an elderly or infirm person, having to undergo the bureaucratic nightmare I did. This could happen to anyone.

Joanne Law

Chatsworth