THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 20, 1995 TAG: 9510200484
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The plan looked good on paper, but there's an old saying about the best laid plans of mice and men going astray.
So it went on Thursday when the Virginia Beach Treasurer's office learned that its vaunted plan to recover $1.5 million in small, nearly forgotten tax bills was just slightly off center.
John T. Atkinson, the city's chief tax collector, reported that 800 letters threatening wage garnishment were sent to taxpayers who had already paid.
Atkinson explained the problem as a production error.
On Monday, the city announced plans to mail out 31,000 notices to people who had not paid back taxes. The effort was based on new software developed by his staff that would help track down old, unpaid bills and force people to pay or face having their employers receive the bill.
The city planned to mail out the notices in mid-September but had to delay the mailing because of programming glitches. When the problems were ironed out, the mailing proceeded, but with names of people from the September list. What the city did not realize, Atkinson said, was that some of these people had paid their debts and should not have received the letters.
``We were not aware of the problem until the bills were printed, stuffed and mailed,'' Atkinson said.
Despite the mix-up, Atkinson said, the effort already has paid off handsomely for the city. In the first two days the program went into effect, the city collected more than $50,000.
``It ain't pretty, but it's working,'' Atkinson said. ``The money is pouring in. There is no question that this will have a devastating effect on our delinquency rate. They are calling us left and right.''
Laurie Sanderson, a senior programmer analyst for PRC Inc., a military contracting company, was among those who received a letter asking her to pay ``$0.00'' or face garnishment from her company.
Apart from the fact that she had paid her taxes, the letter listed her company as being in Columbus, Ohio. It is not based there, she said.
``If I made this problem, I'd be in trouble,'' she laughed. ``I'd be called on the carpet. When something involves money, you test and test before you mail.''
Sanderson said her name ended up on the list when the June tax deadline passed and she had not received her tax bill. The city later reminded her that she owed and she paid her debts.
``I have no problem with them collecting taxes,'' she said. ``I think we should all pay, but it was a little shocking to open my mail and see they were going to garnishee my wages. I would not want that to land on my manager's desk. It makes me look like a slacker.''
Larry Etheridge, of Knotts Island, N.C., said he received a letter asking for the $12.01 he allegedly owed on a 30-year-old car that has not worked for two years.
Etheridge, who lived in Virginia Beach for 24 years before moving, said he was mildly angry that the city would ask him to pay because he already had told the city about the car and paid what he thought was owed.
Like Sanderson, the city warned Etheridge that the money would be taken from his wages, but it was from a company he had never heard of nor worked for.
``I always pay people I owe,'' he said.
Despite it all, Atkinson was chipper.
``As a tax collector, I have the responsibility to put the money in the bank. In this case, I did not have the tools to do the job as well as it should be done. The laws were there. The desire was there, but the mechanism was not.'' by CNB