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Last Updated: May 26th, 2010 - 17:07:52 |
A tax error made in Haskell County has caused for Seward County residents living in the Sublettle school district to owe additional taxes.
USD 374 overlaps into portions of Seward County. Those residents living in the overlap send their children to school in Sublettle and pay USD 374 taxes.
An incorrect data error was made by Haskell County on a well and gas lease. The recorded number caused for taxes to be calculated lower, affecting the 2009 USD 374 tax levies.
Haskell County appraiser Tom Fuhrmann said the taxes had been recalculated in Haskell County. The difference owed by residents has been mailed out in Haskell County.
Seward County Clerk Stacia Long estimates her office will be mailing out 510 additional tax statements to make up for the additional tax owed. In total, $29,387 will be collected from Seward County tax statements.
"The difference in the levy from what we originally taxed is 1.224,” said Long. “It is a pretty small amount. We have generated the original tax statements and they were (already) mailed out. It will be an added tax statement that will be mailed out.”
The bills will be due with second half taxes in May. State statue requires no interest or penalties be added to the tax statements due to clerical errors faulted by county employees.
Long said she has already found eight statements that will be billed for under $1. Specifically, she there is one for 5 cents, 11 cents and 60 cents.
"I think it is a little embarrassing to mail out a tax statement for .5 cents when it costs 42 cents to mail it," said Long.
Haskell County Clerk Sharon Hinkle said the data error affects all Haskell County tax payers and the statements issued were small in amount.
"We attached a letter and people were concerned that they were not in that taxing district were that well was located,” said Hinkle. “When we told them it affected the whole county evaluation, they were okay with it.”
Haskell County will pay for all additional costs Seward County will encounter from the error. Long predicts that will include the price of the mail postage, paper use and the computer software to generate the tax statements.
For full story please see Sunday's Times
© 2008 Southwest Times
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