On Tuesday, Liberty County Commissioners announced a clerical error. In 2017-2018 property taxpayers in the county paid an increase in taxes.
A miscalculation was made in the number of mills that were assessed, causing taxpayers to be over-milled by 10.4 mills, which totals $99,954.40.
Liberty County Attorney Robert Padmos tells MTN that a plan has yet to be made because of the significant procedural issues the county must work through, but adds that unfortunately it will not be a quick fix, but it will get fixed.
“We’re working with the Montana Association of Counties and we’re working with our auditor to figure out how to best proceed, whether to issue refund checks or whether to credit future taxes. We don’t have a decision on that yet. We still have to sit down and figure out what is going to be logistically the most effective,” Padmos said.
The miscalculation has been corrected for this fiscal year.
Reporting by Elizabeth Transue for MTN News
Liberty County shared the following information in a Facebook post and on its websiteon Tuesday:
It has come to the attention of the Liberty County Commissioners that there was an error in the 2017-2018 tax statements, causing county taxpayers to pay increased property taxes for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. This error was made by the Clerk and Recorder’s Office when constructing the 2017-2018 fiscal year budget. During that time, a miscalculation was made in the number of mills that were assessed, causing the taxpayers to be over-milled by 10.4 mills ($99,954.40).
The error was discovered by the Clerk and Recorder’s Office while budgeting for the 2018-2019 tax year. The miscalculation has been corrected for this fiscal year and all 2018-2019 tax statements will not be affected.
We apologize for this error and are working tirelessly to make it right for the taxpayer. We have reached out to our legal counsel, our auditor, the Department of Administration, and the Montana Association of Counties to find a viable solution moving forward.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact any of the Liberty County Commissioners, Larry Hendrickson (406) 265-0877, Morb Wicks (406) 450-1433 or Joette Woods (406) 945-0099.
