Red Bank faces roughly $762,000 shortfall after assessor office miscalculation of certified tax rate

Summary

City officials learned at a special called meeting that a Hamilton County assessor office data-entry error led to an incorrect certified tax rate (0.8968) being issued for Red Bank; the corrected revenue-neutral rate should have been $1.0775, producing a shortfall the city estimates at about $762,286 after planned budget increases.

Red Bank city officials said at a special called meeting that a human error in the Hamilton County Assessor of Property’s office produced an incorrect certified tax rate, leaving the city with a projected property-tax revenue shortfall for the fiscal year.

City Manager Martin Granholm and Chief Financial Officer Chris Pickle presented the technical calculations and documents that led to the finding, and Hamilton County Assessor Marty Haynes told the commission he accepts responsibility for the mistake. “When we make a mistake, I have to take full credit for it,” Haynes said. “This is a mistake. Unfortunately, it's human error.”

The error stemmed from the prior-year adjusted tax levy calculation: the assessor’s staff entered an older prior-year tax rate (a $1.39 figure) instead of the correct prior tax rate of $1.67 when preparing the certified tax-rate calculation form that the State Board of Equalization mailed to Red Bank on June 20. That incorrect input produced a certified tax rate of 0.8968 on the signed calculation form. Granholm said the corrected…

Red Bank faces roughly $762,000 shortfall after assessor office miscalculation of certified tax rate

Summary

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