Trending
ELKINS -- The Randolph County Commission entered into a memorandum of understanding Thursday with a local business that has been overpaying its county taxes since 2010.
When Elkins Fordland moved from Harrison Avenue to the Beverly Five-lane nearly 10 years ago, the county neglected to adjust the business's assessment from the higher Elkins Corporation District tax rate to the Leedsville District rate, officials said at a special county commission meeting Thursday.
Prosecuting Attorney Michael Parker addressed the tax exoneration request by Fordland's Jim Jackson during the meeting.
The memorandum will exonerate Fordland's tax years 2017, 2016 and 2015 "for a total exoneration of $24,706," Parker said. Jackson agreed to forego renumeration for the other tax years since the business moved to the Beverly Five-lane.
Taking into consideration "the costs of potential litigation," Parker said, "I think we've reached a resolution."
Parker said the total amount of Elkins Fordland's overpayment for all the tax years totaled $57,264.44.
County Assessor Phyllis Yokum said, "We encode about 15,000 personal property accounts on a yearly basis. Two ladies do that in my office and they do a very good job… In encoding 15,000 accounts, it's not something that my data entry clerk caught. … It is an overpayment."
Jackson noted, "This agreement I think is reasonable. There was a lot more taxes that were paid, and that's gone, I'm not looking to get all that back… I will say that, in the oversight, at some point this may have been some of our responsibility. This was missed by two professional accounting firms.
"Had we never opened another dealership that was (taxed) at a lower rate, we may never have noticed it," Jackson said.
Commission President Mark Scott said, "Jim, this is a very unique case. Phyllis has never dealt with it, and I don't know how many times this has ever come up in the history of Randolph County, which made it difficult for us to decipher what we could potentially do."
Scott praised Jackson for being willing to work with the county to resolve the issue.
Commissioners agreed the exonerated funds will be refunded in a check to Elkins Fordland.
The next regular county commission meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. June 6 at the James Cain Courthouse Annex.