A minor typo might cost Utah taxpayers more than $1 million.
Wasatch County Assessor Maureen “Buff” Griffiths said that while her office was completing the annual tax rolls, a staff member dropped a phone on a keyboard and accidentally listed a 1978 house as worth $987 million, which was off by about $986.7 million. The 1,570-square-foot house, built on two acres of land, is actually only worth $302,000, according to county property records.
The county’s calculations were all thrown off. Given a billion dollars in newfound housing value, the formula called for lowering the rates. The result, according to the Deseret News, was several revenue shortfalls. One such shortfall cost the Wasatch County School District nearly $4.4 million, officials said. Teacher and staff salaries won’t be affected, said John Moss, the district’s spokesman, but “some of the capital projects that were scheduled or proposed will need to be canceled or postponed due to lack of funds.”
To make up for the $1 million difference, Wasatch County residents can expect to see tax rates bumped up above normal for the next three years, officials said.
Cal Griffiths, the county’s clerk/auditor, was the first to catch the error, but only after the Utah State Tax Commission had certified the tax roll and property tax notices had been sent out.
“I saw this humongous number, and I said, ‘Wow, that’s pretty big,’” Griffiths said.
The county has vowed to review its policies and procedures to make sure a similar mistake never happens again, a mistake Griffiths called “horrific” and “bizarre.”
“It’s very unfortunate,” she said. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt our people again.”
Wasatch County officials said they noticed property values were rising but attributed the growth to the recent population influx. (Wasatch is the third-fastest growing county in Utah.) “So, I take some of the blame for that,” said County Manager Mike Davis. “If I noticed something, I should have pursued it more, but I didn’t.”
If anything, Wasatch County’s typo just goes to show that a bit of skepticism can go a long way.
