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Luzerne County reassessment Computer glitch causes confusion during informal review process

July 5, 2008

Long lines and short tempers

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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PLAINS TWP. – A computer glitch caused an overbooking of informal reassessment reviews on Monday, leaving some property owners frustrated by wait times of one hour to 150 minutes and a packed reception area with standing room only.

Vic Vulkoski of Hanover Township said he didn’t get out of his review, which was scheduled for 10:45 a.m., until 12:20 p.m.

“People are coming in and they’re furious,” Vulkoski said, adding his review lasted only about 10 minutes, and the rest of his time in 21st Century Appraisal’s Northern Regional Reassessment Office on Second Street was spent waiting.

21st Century is performing Luzerne County’s first countywide reassessment since 1965. Residents who disagree with their new property assessment values or descriptions can attend informal reviews and attempt to have corrections made.

“It was a total cluster, and I won’t finish it. It was packed in there,” said Charles Torr of Hanover Township.

Torr went to the office to try to schedule an informal review but was told he had to make an appointment by phone. Torr said he would have to assign power of attorney to his sister so she could attend a review in his place because he’s a truck driver and it’s difficult for him to get time off from work during the hours when the reassessment office is open.

At 1 p.m., all 24 seats in the reception area were occupied by property owners waiting for reviews. A delivery man holding six boxes of pizza from Grotto Pizza was one of another approximately two dozen people standing in the reception room, front doorway or hallway leading back to the review stations. They were waiting to talk with a receptionist or to be called back for their appointment.

Three of four handicap parking spaces and all 22 regular parking spaces were filled, as was the space along the driveway, which fit another 15 vehicles. About 28 more vehicles were parked along the road or in the lot of a vacant warehouse across the street.

Bob Grajewski and his wife, Sue, of Kirkwood, N.Y., were called for their 11 a.m. appointment an hour and 12 minutes late.

“We stood most of the time because there were older folks with canes and walkers waiting with us,” Bob said.

The couple attempted to get the acreage rate for their family farm adjusted but found out that can only be done at a hearing before the Luzerne County Board of Assessment Appeals. Still, they didn’t consider it a wasted trip.

“It was a good learning experience because we got to ask questions that will help with our formal appeal,” Sue said.

The couple took the wait time in stride.

“They overbooked, just like the airlines,” Bob said with a laugh.

Not everyone was as good-humored.

“I had an appointment for 12:15. They told me it would be approximately 2 and a half hours till they could take me in, if not more,” said Bob Morgan of Dallas.

“I can’t wait that long. I have to go back to work. I’ll have to file a formal appeal now,” Morgan said while heading back to his car after exiting the office.

Tim Barr, chief technology officer for 21st Century, said the overbooking occurred because of a software glitch.

“We were scheduled for 36 (appointments) an hour and we ended up with 56 appointments an hour. … On a normal day, we have about 200 appointments. (Monday), we had 314,” Barr said.

Barr said Monday afternoon he still wasn’t sure how additional appointments were accidentally created, but said technicians have “added additional safeguards and reports to make sure … we don’t have that kind of thing happening again.”

Barr said he can “completely understand” the frustration people experienced and the need for some people to leave without keeping their appointments.

But for Morgan and others who couldn’t wait because of other commitments, Barr said 21st Century would reschedule their appointments if those property owners call the reassessment hotline number printed on the back of their reassessment notices and identify themselves as someone who had a review scheduled on Monday.

Property owners who call to reschedule even after the deadline of 40 days past the mailing of their reassessment notice will not be penalized, Barr said.

Barr said 8,615 appointments for informal reviews had been scheduled as of Monday afternoon. He said 6,217 of those reviews were scheduled for the Plains Township office; the others were scheduled for the office in Hazleton.

Someone calling today for a review would likely be scheduled for an appointment sometime “between mid-July and the end of August or beyond,” he said.

Barr said the final batch of 26,435 reassessment notices for commercial properties and those undergoing special review is to be mailed today.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 459-2005.

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