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York County corrects tax statements after assessor's rate error; refunds and adjustments planned
Summary
County officials identified incorrect tax-credit rates that caused overcharges on property tax statements. The Board of Equalization approved tax list corrections and directed the treasurer to reissue statements and refund or apply adjustments to outstanding balances.
York County officials said an incorrect tax-credit rate calculation produced erroneous tax statements for some property owners; the Board of Equalization approved corrections and a process to issue refunds and corrected statements.
Assessor Kirk told the board the non-ag and ag tax-credit rates were not updated in his system before statements were printed, producing miscalculations. Residential overcharges were typically small (a county cross-section indicated an average refund on the order of $6'$12), while agricultural parcels could incur larger differences because of acreage. The assessor and treasurer worked with their software vendor and the Nebraska Department of Revenue to determine the correct approach to fix the statements.
The board approved a plan to print corrected statements and to issue refunds. For taxpayers who have already paid only the first half, the board directed that refunds be applied to the second installment rather than issuing an immediate refund, to reduce administrative processing and because most corrections are small. The treasurer will send a notice with the corrected amount and, where applicable, indicate how much was applied to the second half.
Board members were briefed that the total affected value includes collections for multiple political subdivisions; the county will coordinate with those subdivisions as required by statute. The board approved the tax-list corrections by motion and roll-call vote.
Board members asked staff to prepare consistent messaging and a written notice for front-line staff to use when answering taxpayer questions. Staff said they were suspending acceptance of payments until the problem is rectified for affected parcels and will print corrected statements and refund checks or adjustments after the corrections are processed.
The board also noted upcoming exemption hearings in April (including a permissive exemption review for a local playhouse) and that representation from the county attorney's office may be needed for those hearings.
