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Glitch Forces Early Release Of Revenues

Source: Albuquerque Journal Publication date: 2000-06-14

The Sandoval County Treasurer's Office plans to release property- tax revenues one month early to make up for shortages caused by a computer glitch. The release will allow agencies, such as school districts, to have enough money to make bond payments. Rio Rancho Public Schools delayed a $12 million bond sale Monday because it was $400,000 short to make the payment for a previous bond debt.

A software problem earlier this year forced the County Treasurer's Office to manually record all the tax payments made by mortgage companies, said Cheryl Tucker, the chief financial investment officer for the County Treasurer's Office. About $4.5 million collected in May would not have been available to agencies such as the school districts until late July had the release of property tax revenues not been moved up.

The Treasurer's Office is closing its books a week early to make the money available to the agencies by June 30, the end of the fiscal year, Tucker said.

"The bulk of it's been processed and will be completed by the 23rd (of June)," Tucker said.

The money had been electronically transferred to the county by two major tax collection agencies.

She said the software glitch has since been corrected.

Officials with the Jemez Valley school district have said they would have a late bond payment because of the problem, Tucker said.

While Rio Rancho's payment is not due until August, financial adviser Charles Casey said that the deficit in the payment account would have counted against the district when it was trying to borrow $12 million in new bonds. The district has to show it has enough money in its accounts to pay for its existing debts to get the full amount in the next bond sale.

The district has rescheduled its sale date for July 24, and officials have said the change would not affect any construction projects.

The district also has anticipated less tax revenue due to a decrease of nearly $25 million in the expected amount of assessed property valuation.

The drop does not reflect a decrease in property values: Rather, it is due to a discrepancy regarding the value of centrally assessed properties, such as utilities, railroads and pipelines, between Sandoval County and the state Taxation and Revenue Department, according to County Assessor Lorraine Dominguez.

Dominguez said Tuesday she is trying to resolve the problem with the state.

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), June 15, 2000