Arkansas residents to get revised tax bills for 2020

FAYETTEVILLE — About 84,000 Washington County residents will get a case of “sticker shock” in the next few days when they find out the value of their vehicles was incorrectly reported on notices sent out earlier this year.

“It’s across the state,” Washington County Assessor Russell Hill said of the mistaken values for cars and light trucks. The vehicles were undervalued in the initial estimates, Hill said, and the revised notices will show the correct, higher value.

Hill said county assessors rely on information from the state Assessment Coordination Department to set values for tax purposes. The notices sent out this year are for taxes to be paid in 2020, Hill said.

“We get those figures every January,” he said.

Hill said it was discovered the values provided were incorrect after the notices were mailed. He said several county assessors questioned the values.

The value of a vehicle is based on sales of comparable vehicles. As an example, Hill said the initial value for a 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe Premier was set at $9,680. The corrected value is $10,990, for a difference of $1,310.

Roderick Grieg, Benton County assessor, said each property owner’s situation will be different as far as how much his tax bill will increase, according to the type of vehicle or vehicles, and the location of their residence. School districts, cities, the county and other taxing entities have different millage rates.

Grieg’s office said a 2016 Toyota Tundra 4X4 Crew-Max initially had a value of $3,271 and a corrected value of $4,412. A resident of Rogers, living in the Rogers School District, would pay an extra $62.64 on the difference, based on 2018 millage rates. Millage rates for 2019 are set in November or December.

Hill estimated the incorrect figures would have cost Washington County taxing entities about $2.5 million in revenue for 2020 if the mistake hadn’t been discovered before the taxes were paid. He said the county’s share would have been about $225,000.

His office is sending out about 84,000 amended notices with the corrected values, Hill said. The county has about 111,000 personal property accounts, he said.

Scott Hardin, spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees the Assessment Coordination Department, said the incorrect information was provided by Price Digest, a company hired to gather the data provided to Arkansas counties.

Arkansas has contracted with Price Digests for more than 10 years. Hardin said the $20,000 contract for the service is awarded on a year-to-year basis and expires in December.

“We are actively working to identify other potential companies that may offer this service,” Hardin said.

The only county to not be affected by the mistake is Pulaski, Hardin said.

Joe Thompson, chief assessment administrator for Pulaski County, said this is because they decided in January not to use the recommended numbers from the Assessment Coordination Department.

“We became aware those values were suspect early on and decided not to use them,” he said.

Hill said Washington County will send notices by mail, which will cost about $46,000. The notices should all be sent this week, he said. Any county residents who disagree with the new values

may appeal to the county’s Board of Equalization. The time for filing property tax appeals ended Aug. 19, but Hill said residents will have 10 days from the date they receive the new notices to file an appeal on the revised values only.

Grieg said his office is working on its response. Grieg said his office has been collecting email addresses for county residents and may be able to use email to send out some of the notices instead of sending letters.

Craighead County Assessor Hannah Towell said her department is still going through the data associated with the mistake.

“We aren’t ready to send notifications right now,” Towell said. “We are trying hard to get through them right now, but we are not there yet.”