VINCENT- The granted appeal of a tax bill from several years ago has cost the Warren Local school district more than $160,000.
The Warren board of education approved an amended appropriation during its regular meeting Monday night. Treasurer Melcie Wells said a repayment of about $75,000 after a local business entity appealed its tangible personal property tax amount from five or six years back had been built into the budget, but the final number turned out to be higher.
"The total ended up being $200,800.55," Wells said.
The entity receiving the refund was identified only as a "local business taxpayer" on the invoice received from the auditor's office.
The actual amount for which Warren was on the hook is $164,638.52 after the district received $36,162.03 from the county auditor's office from a delinquent taxpayer.
Because a portion of the refund had been anticipated, the actual hit to the district's general fund will be about $90,000. Wells said no specific cuts have been made and the district will monitor the situation as the year continues.
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In Addition
* Also during the meeting, the board and Superintendent Tom Gibbs discussed the superintendent and treasurer evaluations slated for December's meeting. In January, board members will discuss with their counterparts in the Fort Frye Local school district whether to continue the sharing of Gibbs' and Wells' services between the districts.
* Gibbs said after last week's Fort Frye meeting that he would be inclined to continue the arrangement, which started in May, despite the inherent challenges.
Wells noted that while the taxpayer can challenge what it considers an incorrect assessment, the district has no recourse in this situation.
"There's not even a process where we can fight the appeal," she said.
The most recent five-year forecast, which did not include the full refund amount, projects the district spending about $1.36 million more than it takes in this year, while still carrying approximately $4.25 million into the 2013-14 fiscal year. As deficit spending continues, that carryover amount drops into the negative by the end of fiscal 2014-15, according to the forecast.
One topic not discussed during Monday's meeting was voters' rejection of a 3.45-mill bond issue and 5-mill permanent improvement levy on Nov. 6.
