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Assessor office is pick-pocketing us
Tuesday, June 09, 2009 | 1 comment(s)
There is a debate in the U.S. Congress pitting the American people against the usurious interest rates and other charges of credit card companies and other financial lenders, many of whom are receiving taxpayer bailout assistance and have been big-time beneficiaries of industry deregulation. However, I have recently found the practices of the Coos County Assessor's Office are every bit as usurious and unscrupulous.
This episode with the assessor's office began last November when I paid 1/3 of my property taxes. I am dyslexic and transposed my numbers, which made my payment $63 short. I am usually careful and catch most of my mistakes, but this one went by me unnoticed.
The county did not inform me of my mistake, but did start charging me interest on Nov. 15 for the $63 underpayment. I made my other two payments for the correct amounts with the last payment by May 15. On June 1, I got a letter from the assessor's office saying I was delinquent and still owed $63 plus $6 interest, and a lien was going to be placed on my property if I did not pay by June 15. After looking at my old check registers I understood I made a mistake, but I called the assessors office to complain about not being notified in November, and that their interest fees were excessive - more than 20 percent.
The woman that is the head of the tax appeals department admitted that if I had overpaid in November by $63, they would not have refunded my money until June and they would have paid no interest on the refund. They started charging interest from November on an amount I was unaware of until June. I cannot say that their practice is illegal, but it is certainly unscrupulous. I called to see if the $6 interest could be waived, since I had not been notified of the mistake and I was passed on to the appeals section. That woman said I could appeal and pay $25 to do so!
Government bureaucrats should be working for the betterment of its members (that is you and me) and not treat us like markets to be exploited. We pay decent wages for them to do our business, not for them to nickel and dime us to death. Coos County, I want my $6 back.
Jan Reynolds
Coos Bay
This episode with the assessor's office began last November when I paid 1/3 of my property taxes. I am dyslexic and transposed my numbers, which made my payment $63 short. I am usually careful and catch most of my mistakes, but this one went by me unnoticed.
The county did not inform me of my mistake, but did start charging me interest on Nov. 15 for the $63 underpayment. I made my other two payments for the correct amounts with the last payment by May 15. On June 1, I got a letter from the assessor's office saying I was delinquent and still owed $63 plus $6 interest, and a lien was going to be placed on my property if I did not pay by June 15. After looking at my old check registers I understood I made a mistake, but I called the assessors office to complain about not being notified in November, and that their interest fees were excessive - more than 20 percent.
The woman that is the head of the tax appeals department admitted that if I had overpaid in November by $63, they would not have refunded my money until June and they would have paid no interest on the refund. They started charging interest from November on an amount I was unaware of until June. I cannot say that their practice is illegal, but it is certainly unscrupulous. I called to see if the $6 interest could be waived, since I had not been notified of the mistake and I was passed on to the appeals section. That woman said I could appeal and pay $25 to do so!
Government bureaucrats should be working for the betterment of its members (that is you and me) and not treat us like markets to be exploited. We pay decent wages for them to do our business, not for them to nickel and dime us to death. Coos County, I want my $6 back.
Jan Reynolds
Coos Bay
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