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http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe/2002/02/22/metro/delay_on_returns_could.html

Delay on returns could tax patience

State budget cuts to blame for mess

Memo to taxpayers: It may take a while for your refund check to arrive this year.

Blame it on state budget cuts. The Department of Revenue, which is coping with a 10 percent cut to its annual operating budget, couldn't afford to hire the 200 temporary employees who usually help out by opening mail, processing returns, and answering phones during tax season, agency spokesman Tim Connolly said.

That means that DOR managers have pulled clerical workers and even some tax auditors into front-line action this year. They have less training in their new tasks than did the temporary workers, many of whom came to work for the state every tax season.

"We're hoping for the best," Connolly said. "We took a budget cut like everyone else, and we're doing the best we can with the budget that we've got."

Quick refunds have been among the most popular innovations in state government in the past decade. Early this month, when the first wave of filers sent their paperwork in, state tax refunds were running two days behind last year's pace, meaning it took the agency seven days, instead of five, to process a return and mail out a refund check.

When the tax crunch really hits in April, refund checks that used to go out within 12 days of a paper tax filing could take three weeks or more.

Besides the staffing shortage, no one is working the overnight shifts that kept returns moving even during the department's busiest times, Connolly said. The cost-cutting is saving the agency about $1 million this year; the agency saw its budget trimmed by $13 million late last year when the Legislature sought to close a gaping budget gap.

"We're hoping that the redeployed people will get better at it," Connolly said. "There's a learning curve involved in any of this."

So far, with about 500,000 of an expected 3 million returns already processed, the delays haven't been too bad. In recent days, DOR workers have largely caught up, Connolly said.

But a large number of Massachusetts taxpayers tend to wait until the last minute, he said. DOR received about a million returns on or about last April 15, which could create a crush of returns that will cause delays.

The good news is that computer and telephone filings should not be affected by the budget cutbacks, Connolly said. Those returns, which are free, usually take three days to process, yet only about one-third of taxpayers use the option, he said.

DOR officials are encouraging people to get the word out about electronic filing, but budget cuts are making their jobs harder there, too.