County agrees to correct tax-parcel error and issue $86 refund

Prairie County officials agreed to correct a property-tax billing error after staff found a newly constructed house and garage had been assigned to the wrong parcel. The county’s fiscal staff said the assessor’s re-evaluation increased the parcel with the house by $622 for the year and reduced the other parcel by $795; staff said they would reverse the original payment, generate a corrected bill and issue an $86 refund.

“Tt was a new construction. ... so her first half will be covered on both of them and then we would just issue a refund for the difference which is 86 bucks,” said the Treasurer during the meeting, describing how the county would handle the duplicate charge. Staff told the board the reassessment was completed quickly after the property owner flagged the issue and the assessor’s office re-inspected within days.

The board discussed the mechanics: the county will reverse the initial payment on the treasurer side, create the corrected bill and then cut the refund check the following month. Staff said the parcels will remain separate in the assessor’s system unless the owner requests a formal combination through the Department of [records]. Commissioners signed paperwork to authorize the administrative correction and the treasurer and clerk will sign the revised bills.