In Provo, where homeowners will bear the biggest brunt of the mistake, some residents say they want the issue corrected right away.

During its meeting Tuesday night, the Provo City School Board of Education expressed similar feelings.

Utah County auditor Rod Mann told the board that when residents received their tax notices in July, the estimated amount shown of what they owe was incorrect due to a “clerical error” made by someone in their office.

While the mistake was caught and brought to the attention of Utah County Commissioners and city officials across the county, it means taxpayers will have to cough up more money than they initially expected.

Mann said though the error was countywide, Provo City and the Provo City School District are the most impacted by the discrepancy.

“Certified tax rates were about 5% lower than they should have been,” he said.

Mann explained that the error resulted in $530 million being added to Provo’s taxable property value.

“This impacted Provo City and the Provo School District by artificially lowering the certified tax rates and consequently reducing the projected revenue they would receive from property tax,” he said.

Essentially, the error leaves Provo City with a shortfall of $840,000, and it leaves the school district $3.7 million under what it expected to get from property taxes.

A meeting was held earlier Tuesday between the auditor’s office, Provo City and the Provo City School District to discuss the best way to move forward.

The two options include fixing the error this year or waiting until next year.

Waiting until next year would involve adjusting the tax rate to recover the shortfall over one or three years.

The county auditor’s office could also notify taxpayers by mail about the error and apply the corrected, higher tax rate immediately this year. 

In the case of the Provo City School District, waiting to correct the rate would mean dipping into its rainy day fund to cover planned facility improvements and other needs across the district.

Last month, the board of education approved an adjusted tax rate to fund salary increases for teachers.

“I just feel like we need to fix it now, rather than put it off and let somebody else fix it later — or have them fix it next year, and then we double what people are paying next year,” said Gina Hales, school board vice president.

During the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, residents said they didn’t like the idea of paying extra in taxes but were also not in favor of prolonging the matter.

“I definitely don’t want to spend an extra $100, but in the grand scheme of things, if I can pay it now and I don’t have to pay it later, that seems so much better to me,” Provo resident Aaron Wheatley said.

Provo’s Neighborhood District program coordinator and resident Rachel Breen shared that sentiment.

“I understand mistakes happen (and) I would rather we not dip into the rainy day fund, because you never know when a boiler is going to break or something’s going to happen,” she said.

The board unanimously voted in favor of having the corrected rate go out to residents this year.

However, Provo City has yet to make its decision. The City Council is expected to take up the matter during its meeting on Tuesday.

Mann said if the City Council vote aligns with the school district, notices will go out to residents before the end of September and the appeal deadline for property values will be extended by 45 days.

Depending on the City Council’s vote, the average homeowner will see an increase of $103 above what they expected to pay on their property taxes. $83 of that will go toward the school district and $22 will go to the city.

A business valued at $1 million will see its property tax increase by roughly $385.

Mann said the remaining eight entities in the county are also still deliberating over the matter — but impacts will be significantly less than those in Provo.