Omitted levy for schools on 2nd-half tax collection

Perrysburg property owners face higher bills

7/7/2011

BOWLING GREEN -- Taxpayers in the Perrysburg school district received slightly higher property tax bills for the second half of the year -- bills that, by the way, are due Friday for all Wood County property owners.

Wood County Auditor Mike Sibbersen said because his office forgot to adjust the district's incremental operating levy for the first-half tax collections that were due in February the office added the amount for the entire year to the second-half bills. For the owner of a $100,000 house, the incremental levy raised property taxes by $19.29 for 2011, Mr. Sibbersen said.

"We missed the change in the rate," he said. "Those run through the Ohio Department of Taxation, too, and they also overlooked it."

In November, 2008, Perrysburg voters approved a 7.3-mill incremental levy that was calculated to bring in an additional $593,184 each year after the first year. It was collected at 7.3 mills in 2009, at 7.8 mills in 2010, and increased to 8.43 mills in 2011.

Because the additional amount was not collected in the first half of the year, the county last week sent a check to Perrysburg schools for $276,087.85 to make up for what they would have received for first-half collections.

That allowed the district to close out its fiscal year on June 30 with balanced books, said Perrysburg Schools Treasurer Matt Feasel, who discovered the mistake after the first-half tax bills were mailed out. He said Wood County "bent over backwards" to fix the error.

"In the whole scheme of things, it was over a half million dollars," Mr. Feasel said. "For us to have foregone that $500,000 this year -- that would have hurt us."

Mr. Sibbersen and county Treasurer Jill Engle said they fielded calls about the mistake, which was brought to taxpayers' attention in a brief note included with the second-half tax bills. Ms. Engle said most callers just wanted to better understand what had happened.

"It was not a major glitch but a problem," she said.

Perrysburg's four-year incremental levy, which the school board pledged would not be collected at more than 8.5 mills, expires at the end of 2012. Mr. Feasel said the board is likely to seek a renewal or some other form of levy to replace it next year.