OREGON – Due to an administrative error, Ogle County did not collect enough taxes for the Byron Park District last year – to the tune of $479,912.
The county and the park district announced that due to the error, 2020 property taxes extended by the County Clerk on behalf of the park district and reflected on tax bills to affected taxpayers sent out in 2021, did not include an extension for the Park District’s duly adopted and certified 2020 levy for bond and interest purposes.
That means Byron Park District taxpayers owe an arrearage of 2020 taxes in that total amount. Pertinent provisions of state law require that this arrearage of 2020 taxes for bond and interest purposes be added to and listed separately on tax bills for 2021, which will be due in two equal installments in June and September 2022.
Paul Zepezauer, the Byron Park District’s executive director, said that taxpayers in the district were only charged about half of what they should have been last year.
If the Park District’s 2020 levy for bond and interest purposes had been extended and included on the 2020 tax year bill, the corresponding additional tax rate would have been $.00261. For a residential property having a fair market value of $100,000 and a 2020 equalized assessed valuation or EAV of $33,333 or 33% of market value, this rate would have resulted in taxes of approximately $86.99.
However, the omitted 2020 bond and interest levy will be extended against the 2021 EAV of property subject to the levy. Therefore, the rate extended for the arrearage and the resulting amount of tax shown on individual bills will vary somewhat from those which have resulted had the Park District’s bond and interest levy been extended and included on 2020 tax bills.
