Commission grapples with $1.783 million valuation error as budget talks intensify

Roger Lamch, a county resident who presented budget charts, told the Crawford County Commission that an error in calculating taxable property produced an "$1.783 million increase in tax revenue" that did not stem from new houses but from miscounted taxable values. "That $1.783 million increase in tax revenue that did not come because 400 people built new houses. It came because there was an error in calculating what was taxable property," Lamch said.

Commissioners and staff spent much of the meeting explaining how that inflated number fed into a revenue-neutral rate the county will show residents next year and why the mill levy had to be raised once the error was discovered. County officials emphasized that statutes and the assessment software constrain how the mill is calculated once departments submit budget requests. Commissioners repeatedly warned that an inflated baseline complicates next year's budgeting and may force hard choices on services.

Why it matters: County staff said the erroneous estimate produced an apparent 11% revenue increase in the budget-planning numbers and that, unless the commission cuts spending or lowers the mill substantially, next year's revenue-neutral notices will reflect the higher baseline and may mislead property owners. Commissioners discussed earlier spending increases in EMS, sheriff and road-and-bridge budgets and signaled that department heads will need to return proposals showing how they would absorb lower funding. One commissioner suggested pausing certain equipment purchases and examining miscellaneous line items to reduce nonrecurring expenditures.

Next steps: The commission set a staff work session with department heads for Feb. 10 to begin the formal budget exercise and agreed informally to start the budget process from a lower mill-levy target near 46.59, while acknowledging that exact decisions will follow formal hearings and statutory processes.