Glitch causes property tax confusion in Island County

Published 12:01 am Thursday, March 31, 2011

COUPEVILLE — Island County’s property tax statements had barely hit the mail last week when calls started flooding in to the Treasurer’s Office — more calls than usual.

Many were from people wondering why they had received two identical tax statements. Would they have to pay twice? If not, why was the county wasting money on duplicate copies?

Some people who owned multiple properties were puzzled about receiving statements for some parcels, but nothing for others.

The taxpayers’ frustration was compounded because county staff was so tied up answering questions over the phone that there was no one free to pick up the new calls pouring in.

“The phone has been ringing off the hook,” Treasurer Ana Maria Nunez said Wednesday. “Right now, I have about 30 (messages) in my voice mail from yesterday that I’m still trying to answer.”

As the questions mounted last week, Nunez realized something was wrong. She called the Spokane-based printer that mailed out the statements and the Texas-based software company that provided the tax information. Within 24 hours, software vendor True Automation discovered a glitch and agreed to pick up any additional printing or mailing costs.

“They didn’t quibble, they said ‘This is on our shoulders,'” Nunez said. “They manned up, for which we are appreciative.”

The treasurer’s office replaced old tax software late last year, and this was the first year working with True Automation. The company was helping county staff through its first tax cycle with the new system when the slip-up occurred.

The error owed to a compressed data file that was mailed to the printer, Nunez said. That goofed up about 17,000 of the 53,000 statements sent, making some duplicate copies and erasing others.

“Part of one file overrode another file,” she said.

Now the printing company is working on sending out the correct information. Anybody who didn’t receive a statement should get one late this week or early next week. County staff also has been sending out statements when people call in. Any of those extra costs will be passed on to the software company, as well.

The problems came on top of a delay in mailing out the annual tax bills. Usually, those notices go out in late February or early March. This year, they started hitting mailboxes the week of March 21. Half of the payment is due in late April, the other half in late October.

At the same time, the Island County Treasurer’s Office is dealing with staff shortages. They have lost the equivalent of two full-time positions, leaving just seven staff members, including Nunez.

Countywide, budget woes mean most phones are answered only four days a week.

“The county is not bearing any of the costs associated with this error, which is one of the biggest factors that have people upset,” Nunez said. “They’re concerned that in a county where every penny counts, that we would print duplicate statements. It wasn’t our intention ever to print duplicate statements, of course.”

The amount of extra cost was still being totaled. Nunez said she wasn’t happy with the error but was pleased that the software company worked to fix it so quickly.

One of the perplexed callers was Wendy Campbell deWinter, who received two tax statements for her home in the Dugualla Bay area north of Oak Harbor. The first time she phoned the county to figure out what was going on, the line rang four or five times, then cut off. She tried again, and it rang more than 20 times with no answer.

She then called the staff that runs the county’s phone and computer systems to make sure a disaster hadn’t befallen the county offices.

“At first I wanted to make sure that nothing had burned down, because you never know,” she said.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.