Much Ado About 13 Cents

Some tax bills make people weep. These made Anthony Theodor laugh.

The Los Angeles County tax collector’s office sent the Granada Hills retiree three bills to collect a total of 13 cents, each bill affixed with 24 cents in postage.

And the bills are for the 1989-90 tax year.

Theodor, 72, doesn’t dispute the amount--although Theodor says he thought that he paid up in December. He just questions county government spending staff time and tax dollars to bill him 6 cents, 5 cents and 2 cents for three commercial properties he owns along Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.

“It’s silly and a waste of money,” Theodor said.

Even county employees agree.

When Theodor recently visited the Van Nuys office of the tax assessor to get an explanation, employees were so amused they asked to photocopy the bills and laughed as they passed them around the office.

However, adding to the web of government bureaucracy, they told him that because the bill was sent from downtown, he would have to deal with people there.

Rod Ornellas, chief of the disbursement and taxes division of the auditor-controller’s office, said he had yet to investigate Theodor’s case, but that in general, the county computer billing system is designed not to send out bills for amounts less than $20. In those cases, the county simply absorbs the losses rather than spend the money to collect such small amounts, he said.

However, Ornellas said the computer does not ignore delinquent bills of any amount, and speculated that that may be the case with Theodor.

“If there is a delinquent balance, the computer will not ignore that, even if it is 3 cents,” Ornellas said.

Theodor’s problems began in 1989 when he bought his partner’s half in the three properties. Rather than reassess only half the property he bought, the county reassessed the entire parcels at present market value, throwing the amount of property tax into some doubt. The matter was finally resolved in March, 1991, and Theodor paid the additional taxes Dec. 12.

But 12 days later, he received the three bills and now, rather than fight the system, he said he’ll play their game: “I’m going to be ridiculous like they are and pay the bills with three checks.”

He says he’ll deliver the checks in person, even though he knows that it could cost $10 to park.