By Claudia Iseman
Depending on how you look at it, South County property owners either received a rather pleasant surprise or a somewhat confusing explanation on the most recent Santa Cruz County property tax bill.
“About 19,000 parcels were charged too much because the total bond cost was spread over too few parcels,” said Laura Bowers, Santa Cruz County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer- Tax Collector. She went on to say: “About 5,000 parcels were not charged at all, even though they should have been.”
Bowers is referring to the charge to property owners for measure N to fund Watsonville Community Hospital, AKA The Pajaro Valley Health Care District. Taxpayers will be funding the hospital thru 2056. A total of 24,000 parcels are affected in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.
Bowers says it was a software error that caused the miscalculation leaving some property owners to scratch their heads in frustration. “I thought the letter arrived quite late,” said Mary MacLellan, a professional accountant from Aptos. She only received the letter from the county explaining the error on March 10. MacLellan was surprised that more checks and balances weren’t in place to catch the mistake.
The good news is all those affected by the tax collector’s error will have an extension to April 30 to pay their bill. Those dutiful taxpayers who pay for the entire year at once will get a refund if they were overcharged. The 19,000 taxpayers overcharged received a bill reflecting a lower amount. Those 5,000 property owners who were left out the first time around received an adjusted bill with the additional charge included.
Despite the explanatory letter, many remained confused. Lori Hood from La Selva Beach pays online and found no clarification as to why the two amounts on her bill didn’t match up from December to April. “It wasn’t well organized. I’ll say that,” said Hood.
The 24,000 parcels cover a large area encompassing Aptos, Corralitos, La Selva Beach and Watsonville to Mount Madonna Road, or roughly the same boundaries as the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.
Bowers says her office caught the glitch in October and worked on a plan to readjust the property tax bills.
“We’ve definitely had a high number of calls to the office. Nobody wants a higher tax bill,” admits Bowers.
But the tax collector says there will be no exemptions for those who can’t come up with the extra money by April 30.
“There’s no legal way to waive or postpone,” said Bowers.
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For more information online, go to www.santacruzcountyca.gov/Departments/TaxCollector/PVHD.aspx