George Hartzman did a public records request concerning the software used to calculate property taxes in Guilford County, North Carolina. The following is what George set to me and the e-mail addresses listed at the bottom of this post:
"I just spoke with Judy Rhyne at the NCACC.
They sell to the software for revals etc... to 10 NC counties.
The obvious stand out is Meck,
which is going back and auditing their last reval.
That email is below Mark Paine's.
She said no less than 3 different times
that tax directors/counties interpretation of the reval law vary widely
and that all counties don't incorporate the same information
meaning results may vary.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Payne <mpayne@co.guilford.nc.us>
Date: Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Subject: software manuals
To: "Hartzman, George" <george.hartzman@wellsfargoadvisors.com>, "hartzmancpe@gmail.com" <hartzmancpe@gmail.com>
George,
This inquiry has been forwarded to me for a response. There are no instruction manuals or training manuals for the software. The software was acquired from the NC Association of County Commissioners and more can be learned about the system at their website: http://www.ncacc.org/index.aspx?NID=125
Of course, there are tools incorporated in the system to aid in training for use of the software and trouble-shooting the software, including a ‘Help” function on the menu and “Business Test Scenarios” for training purposes. It appears, on initial review, that this software component on training is not a public record pursuant to Public Records statutes; in addition, it may be that the data is confidential under the contract restrictions as well. Our research on this matter is not complete but this reflects my initial review.
mark
.
Judy Rhyne judy.rhyne@ncacc.org
5:50 PM (4 minutes ago)
to me
Mr. Hartzman,
Here are the NC counties that currently use the NCPTS software:
Wake
Wayne
Pitt
Harnett
Guilford
Orange
Randolph
Catawba
Mecklenburg
Henderson
Please let me know If you have any questions.
Judy Rhyne
NCACC"
I have some questions:
1. Why has Mecklenburg seen the need to audit their reevaluation that was done using this same software as was used in Guilford County?
2. No training? Really?
3. No instruction manuals or training manuals for the software? Not even a Dummies book? You're kidding, right?
4. What exactly does "interpretation vary widely" mean in this context? Are we talking the same language from county to county?
5. How many hours did Guilford County tax assessors actually practice using the new software before they put the software to actual use?
6. How many hours did other counties practice?
7. Does the State of North Carolina not have rules pertaining to how counties interpret the rules?
8. Why must people like George and I publicly shame, ridicule and make laughing stocks of politicians and the media to get them to do their freaking jobs?
Note: I did edit a few personal e-mail addresses from the list that are there solely as witnesses to the exchange.
Amanda Lehmert <amanda.lehmert@news-record.com>,
Joe Killian <joe.killian@news-record.com>,
Billy Jones <recyclebill@gmail.com>,
Matthew Evans <mlevans@bizjournals.com>,
msutter <msutter@bizjournals.com>,
msanford@trebic.org,
ajohnson@news-record.com,
Jeff Gauger <Jeff.Gauger@news-record.com>,
john@rhinotimes.net,
Jamiah.Waterman@greensboro-nc.gov
editor@yesweekly.com,
editor@carolinapeacemaker.com
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