Wasatch County Taxpayers May Have To Foot Bill For $1 Billion Typo
Dec 6, 2019, 5:35 AM | Updated: 7:37 am
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – It was a deal that turned out to be too good to be true, and now taxpayers may have to foot the bill.
Deseret News reports that a $300,000 home was accidentally overvalued at $1 billion. That accident caused an over-projection in revenue from property taxes.
The home is 1,570 square feet and was built in 1978 on 2 acres in an unincorporated area of Wasatch County. However, it was recorded as having a market rate value of more than $987 million — leading to an overestimate of about $543 million in taxable value.
“I’m thinking it was a data entry that would be something like they dropped their phone on the keyboard and it kicked out all these numbers without verifying,” said County Assessor Maureen Griffiths. “That’s how crazy it was.”
That mistake went into projections for the budget. It wasn’t caught until after those budgets were approved, leaving the county without $6 million that had already been allocated.
The biggest impact will be to the Wasatch County School District, which is now planning to use reserve funds to cover the huge difference.
Taxpayers will likely have to make up the difference in the coming years.
“Even though tax payers are underpaying this year, slightly, for the next one, three or five years, depending on the process, they will then collect the difference,” said County Manager Mike Davis. “They will have to pay the difference to make this whole.”
Other budgets affected include the fire district, parks district, and Central Utah Water.
Officials with the school district said they chose to remain conservative with their budget. That will help them manage the lost funds over the next few years, although some areas will see a significant negative impact.
