A Los Angeles firm contacted the wrong person when it sent an official-looking property tax reassessment letter to Jim Madaffer.
As a San Diego city councilman, Madaffer bristled at the request for $171 to apply for a property tax reassessment on his behalf. His property had decreased in value, the letter said, and he should be entitled to a $501 annual tax reduction.
The only problem, Madaffer said, is that reassessment is a service that the county assessor's office provides free.
While the Los Angeles company – which lists a post office box and did not return phone messages – might not be violating the law, it surely is taking advantage of residents who are unaware of the free service, Madaffer said. Recipients can be tricked by the language and appearance of the solicitation – which displays a California map emblem – into thinking it is a government communication.
If the $171 processing fee isn't sent by Sept. 5, the letter stipulates payment of a $67 late fee. It further states that the property will be ineligible for future assessment reductions if the fees aren't paid.
In truth, reassessment applications are available at the office of Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk Gregory Smith or can be downloaded from the Web site: www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cob/aab/index.html. If someone misses the county's Dec. 1 filing deadline, there is no late fee. The application simply will be postponed until the next tax period.
“When people get something that looks very official, it's easy to be duped by such a pitch,” said county Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister, who sent out about 972,000 tax bills last fall.
“It's legal, but it's pretty unethical.”
On Tuesday, Jeff Olson, chief of county assessment services, said the Los Angeles company, hadn't submitted any appeal requests so far. But phone calls and letters were coming in by the dozens from property owners who had been solicited. He is referring people to the real estate fraud division of the District Attorney's Office, which is investigating.
A lap(top) cat
Mary Jo Crowley sympathizes with her Vista friend, Stephen Lee Garman, whose laptop computer went on the fritz after his kitty jumped onto the keyboard. Garman took his equipment to a specialist who isolated the problem. Sure enough, his mouse had been disabled by his cat.
Making a statement
KOGO radio's Cliff Albert was in Las Vegas recently and noticed a couple of gas station names that aptly express the feeling of disgruntled motorists as they drive in to fill up: Terrible's gas and Grumpy's Exxon.
Creative marketing
Timing couldn't have been better for Cell magazine's story of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies' research on a fitness pill for couch potatoes because the Institute's annual fundraiser, Symphony at Salk, is Saturday.
Salk's discovery launched a media frenzy, national TV interviews and catchy newspaper headlines, such as: “Exercise in a pill? No sweat!” and “It's like a free lunch, but without the calories.” Even the staid New York Times bannered: “Couch mouse to Mr. Mighty by pills alone.” . .
If the entrance to the Museum of Man in Balboa Park this weekend looks like Old Town's old Bazaar del Mundo, there's a good reason.
Bazaar del Mundo's founder, Diane Powers, is re-creating a mini-Bazaar, complete with a shopping arcade, musicians and a woman making tortillas, for the museum's Saturday gala.
Diane Bell's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Fax items to (619) 260-5009; call (619) 293-1518; e-mail to diane.bell@uniontrib.com; or mail to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Box 120191, San Diego 92112-0191.
