When Kim Larsen was notified November 8 that a higher up in the Department of Revenue wanted to meet with her at 10 a.m., she was happy.
Two months earlier she had celebrated 40 years as a state employee and had ordered the 40-year pin to which she was entitled. So when the November 8 notice came in, she said, “My thought is he’s finally bringing my pin.”
Instead the supervisor told her she was being relieved of her duties. He watched her pack up all her personal belongings, took possession of the state computer she had been using, took her keys, and “by 10:45 walked me out to my car,” recalled Larsen last week.
Larsen’s job as a map and GIS specialist for the Montana Department of Revenue was a casualty of state budget cuts that will close 28 of the state’s 56 assessment offices in the coming year.
Jefferson County’s office at the courthouse in Boulder is slated for closure in the first round, by April 30.
In a meeting with a DOR representative January 9, the county commissioners made it clear they are not pleased with the decision and are extremely displeased about the way Larsen was treated.
Whoever was responsible for the surprise ouster of Larsen and the way it was done “owes Kim an apology, face to face,” said Commissioner Leonard Wortman.
“I was actually embarrassed for the state,” said Commissioner Bob Mullen. “To treat somebody with 40 years of experience that way…”
“Even four years,” interjected Wortman.
Wortman questioned the need for a lack of any advance notice to Larsen. “I don’t think the State of Montana was going to tip over in five days,” he said.
In addition to the treatment of Larsen, the commission and other county officials questioned the wisdom of the closure decision, arguing that service will not be as good, money will not be saved and other Jefferson County DOR employees will be adversely affected.
Sally Keener, who has been heading the DOR office in Jefferson County, will be kept on the DOR payroll but will have to commute to a “hub” office, perhaps in Butte, DOR representative Brandy Hilton told the commission. When local taxpayers want to meet with her, they will either have to travel to the hub or make an appointment for her to come to Boulder, said Hilton.
Since Larsen’s departure, her duties have been performed by a cartographer in Shelby. That employee was assigned to serve 15 counties, up from 7 or 8, said Hilton.
“I can’t imagine there’s going to be the same level of service,” said Mullen.
He and others expressed concern over delays and predicted the state will end up handling far more tax appeals due to the loss of easy access to assessment services.
Hilton said she was confident taxpayers would get the same level of customer service over the phone or via Skype discussions on the computer.
County Treasurer Terry Kunz said, “I don’t see how you’re saving any money.”
The county offered the DOR office space without charge and the utility bill for the existing office is only about $75 a month, she said. The change will entail expense to set up mobile services, she said, and will cost Keener and other employees commuter expenses.
She predicted that tax collections will be affected by the lack of a local full time assessment office.
“When taxpayers are mad, they want to talk to someone now,” said Kunz.
Often in the past, issues could be resolved just by a discussion between the office staff and the taxpayer. But that avenue will disappear with the change to hub offices, she said.
Central hubs “are not going to be treating the taxpayers with the same attentiveness,” said Kunz.
Hilton said the hubs can work, but “there’s got to be effective communication.”
Kunz said her office receives visits every January from taxpayers with “special mobiles,” heavy equipment such as backhoes and loaders. To transport those on the roads, the equipment owner must have a permit that renews in January. But that permit cannot be issued until the taxes are paid up, so owners come in to pay their taxes in advance for the year and need help with getting the proper amount for that, explained Kunz.
She asked Hilton how that would be handled, and heard a response that it is being worked out.
Kunz said she has been receiving phone calls from taxpayers, bringing questions she cannot answer.
“These procedures need to be in place,” she told Hilton.
Hilton said the department would “develop those tools over time.”
Clerk and Recorder Bonnie Ramey also questioned the changes. She asked what would happen to the records, how surveys are going to be conveyed to Shelby, what the timeline will be for updating the cadastral property records and more.
“There’s always going to be things we’re going to have to work through,” replied Hilton.
“I just do not see this working very well,” said Ramey.
She and others noted that the cuts all seem to be coming at the expense of those most closely engaged in serving the public.
“They could have cut at the top and probably none of us would have noticed,” she added.
Wortman compared the changes at the DOR to “having a restaurant that doesn’t have a waitress.”
How many people are being laid off? Any managers? How were the decisions made about which offices to close? What happens when an assessor misses new property, costing the county money since the property does not get on the tax roles?
Those were among questions raised which Hilton was unable to answer.
“I would like to have somebody come here who can answer our questions…and have the courage to stand up and tell us why they came up with some of this stuff,” said Wortman.
Mullen said he is concerned delays will cost school districts and other jurisdictions, not just the county. “I certainly don’t think the taxpayers are going to be better served,” he said.
The commission asked Hilton to convey that to her higher ups and they later decided to send a letter as well stating their questions and concerns.
As for Larsen, after the departure day that she now describes as “a bit abrupt,” she said she had another full time job right away. She took the one month pay she was entitled to from the state and chose to retire from the DOR rather than vie for another job with the state, she said.
Ten years ago she retired from the state after 30 years full time and was hired back a month later as half time. That made her more vulnerable to layoff, she said.
She said she decided, “I had to just let it go. I had a great job for 40 years with the state.”
That resolve to let it go was tested December 12 when she received a postcard from the governor’s office congratulating her on her ten years of dedicated service to the state and urging her to “keep up the great work.”
She wrote to the governor and he then called her to apologize, she said. He spoke of how difficult it is to have to make the cuts now being made, she said.
Later, her 40 year pin finally arrived.
The lack of trust displayed by the state on the day she was let go was disappointing, she said.
“As many years as I’ve been there, I felt I was worthy of more,” she said.
