May 13, 2008 4:49 pm US/Pacific
Incorrect Tax Assessments Sent To S. Bay Residents
SAN JOSE (BCN) ―
Since announcing Monday that more than 70,000 property assessment notification cards were sent out with errors on them, the Santa Clara County Assessor's office has already received thousands of calls, the office said Tuesday.
On Friday the assessor's office mailed more than 470,000 assessment notification cards to property owners. Employees who received notification cards at their own homes discovered the errors, which include incorrect property address, parcel number or assessed values.
"Regrettably, approximately 15 percent of the cards were printed with errors," County Assessor Larry Stone said in a statement.
The mailing addresses were correct, and the assessor's office said the error was in the printing only and that the county's database is accurate.
The flawed cards were confined to 12 of the county's 230 ZIP codes, and the county said it is unlikely that all property owners within these areas are affected.
The ZIP codes affected are: 95112, 95113, 95115, 95116, 95117, 95118, 95119, 95120, 95121, 95122, 95123, and 95124.
The cards are sent out in advance of the close of the tax roll on July 1 to provide property owners an opportunity to review the taxable value and request changes before the next year's tax bill is mailed in September.
The county has been providing the service for more than 30 years.
"It is simply awful. We mail these cards to reduce confusion, improve customer service and increase the accuracy of the assessed values-and are one of only 10 Counties that mail them. This error is likely to have the opposite effect," Stone said.
Corrected cards will be mailed out with plenty of time to beat the roll close, and it will notify the media with an anticipated mailing date for the new cards, the county said.
Apprehensive about being deluged by calls about the erroneous cards, the county is asking for property owners to wait until they receive the new cards before calling.
The county received upward of 1,500 phone calls on Monday, and triple the number of hits to its Web site, according to David Ginsborg, deputy to the assessor. Tuesday's call volume seems to be lower, he said.
Property owners who want to contact the assessor's office are encouraged to e-mail the office at
rp@asr.sccgov.org.
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