Lowell Deeds

Here’s one for your “believe it or not” file…
In Valparaiso, Indiana a house was mistakenly valued for $400 million. According to officials an “outside user” of Porter County’s computer system accidentally changed the value of the home (now that’s a huge problem right there…”outside users” shouldn’t be able to change a database). The house was original assessed at $121,000 with a tax bill of $1,500 before the change. At $400 million the erroneous tax bill was $8 million. Obviously,…the $8 million bill was never paid. The mistake was discovered and the necessary correction was made…but…before the problem was solved the $400 million in assessed value somehow ended up on documents used to calculate the “tax rate” (oh no). The new rate was set and municipal funds allocated factoring in $8 million in taxes that weren’t really owed. As expected, the gaff was later discovered, but not before the damage was done…at this time… the city is of Valparaiso and its school department are running huge deficit. Officials believe the error could cause layoffs as well. Wow…what a mess…“Truth can be stranger than fiction”…