Reprinting tax bills to cost about $20,000
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
Reprinting and mailing about 40, 000 tax statements missing information when sent to Benton County residents in April will cost nearly $ 20, 000, the county’s tax collector said.
About 69, 000 statements mailed didn’t contain legal descriptions of real estate being taxed. About 25, 000 of those incomplete statements already have been paid, said Greg Hoggatt.
The missing information doesn’t affect the amount of taxes owed, but Hoggatt said that his office likely will reprint some of them anyway.
Hoggatt said that his office “took a lot of heat” for the mistake, likely caused by a difference in computer software used in the county’s collector’s and assessor’s offices.
County Assessor Bill Moutray blamed Hoggatt for the mistake in an April 29 news release. Moutray said then that the information was present when he sent it to the collector’s office, and Hoggatt said the information was missing by the time his office received it.
Hoggatt said that his office, which operates on a $ 1. 8 million annual budget, shouldn’t have to absorb the cost of printing the new statements. He said he would forgo buying equipment for the office in order to cover the cost.
“It’s just got to be done at this point,” he said.
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